


Sediment

by Cyriusli



Series: The Elemental Veil Series [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 20:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 37,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13819263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyriusli/pseuds/Cyriusli
Summary: Two years after Sanji left the Manor House and Zoro behind, it still seems to be following him. He's moved, found a new job, gotten a girlfriend even, yet... Things then come crashing down around Sanji when he comes home to find Zoro, of all people, sitting in his living room. Once again, Sanji's life is about to take an unexpected turn, but maybe this time, it will be for the better.





	1. Book One: Pumice

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember how much of this I posted orignally, but I know how much I wrote originally. I am trying to make some edits, but for the most part the writing is how I wrote it before setting it aside. I'm working on the the plot still and how I want to flesh this out, but the base idea is here and it's something I wanted to reshare with everyone. Hopefully you enjoy.

It snuck up on him like it always did. He could feel them just beyond his skin, waiting to touch, but just never quite able to do so. The ethereal tendrils ghosting over his skin wanting, needing to caress as they silently searched him out. They were always seeking his presence and as they started slowly closing in again, he knew he had nowhere to run this time. No way to escape. Beady little black eyes found him from the bare tree branches unblinking; watching, waiting. The throaty call of the raven sounded and the large black bird flew off into the night.

Sanji sat straight up from a dead sleep gasping for breath. Swallowing in a poor attempt to wet his throat, he panted, trying in vain to calm his racing heart. He squeezed his eyes shut even though his room was still dark, but it did little good to rid his mind of the images. He just couldn't get the raven’s call out of his head, or the tingling feeling of those tendrils off his skin.

Kicking the covers aside, he stood on shaky legs, cursing himself for letting this consume him as it had. Throwing open the sliding door to the balcony, he welcomed the cool air of the night on his heated skin before closing it behind himself. Was he sweating? Wiping a hand across his forehead, Sanji swallowed again, placing his hands on the wooden railing and peering into the darkness.

He couldn't see anything, let alone a black raven, glancing down as his cat appeared on the balcony with him. "What good are you if I still have the nightmares," Sanji asked the cat. Morgan was a feisty bastard with three legs and a bad attitude. Sanji had been told the large cat was unadoptable because he was prone to bite, but that had just made the chef want him more. He knew a dire cat when he saw one nowadays anyway. Larger than your biggest of house cats, the creature was good at hunting prey most cats wouldn’t dream of touching, including ravens.

The yellow tomcat let out a yowl and jumped up onto the wooden rail, sitting and peering at Sanji with his green eyes. "Just— just keep watch, Morgan. They feel so real in my dreams; so close and we have nowhere else to go this time.” A shudder ran through Sanji that wasn't from the cold. Sanji reached out to pet Morgan, but thought better of it, instead turning to go back inside, leaving the door open a sliver for the cat.

"Are you okay," his girlfriend asked as Sanji crawled back into bed.

"Yeah, just go back to sleep." Raising his arm as she rolled over to cuddle against him, Sanji rested it across her shoulders as he stared at the ceiling. What was he doing? How had it come to this? He'd just been looking for a normal life. Thought he’d gotten away from the Manor and that life, yet it was still haunting him.

Two years. Two very long years. Sanji listened as his girlfriend’s breathing evened out as she fell back to sleep, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Out on the balcony Morgan gave another yowl, walking across the railing and out of his sight.

Happy was a term he used loosely these days. Sanji could honestly smile and say that he was most days. Happy he woke up and happy he got to cook in one of the best kitchens this side of the country, but after that… Inhaling, Sanji pulled his arm away and carefully worked himself out from under the warmth of his partner and bed, making his way out into his kitchen.

Pulling his sleep pants back up over his ass, he flicked on the light over the stove and simply stared down at his arm. The elaborate tattoo covering his right forearm hadn’t been something he planned on, but it had been necessary. Starting work in his old man’s kitchen after leaving the Manor had instantly brought new challenges to Sanji. Some he welcomed: the harassment of the older staff at how he’d failed in the real world and had to come back, for starters. He could smile and take that crap, because they didn’t know. But the new prep cook, he’d known.

From the first moment the two shared a shift, from the split second they saw one another, Sanji knew he just wouldn’t ever be able to fully get away from the veil or the realm of magic. Ethan was a great guy, but the half elf instantly knew who he was. The first time Sanji had accidentally used his abilities in the kitchen, he was glad it had just been the two of them in his space.

Sabo’s runes flared to life along his arm, even through his work clothes and Sanji had jumped back from the stove, trying to cover his arm. Ethan had pulled him close as the two watched the marks fade away and explained his heritage to Sanji. At first he hadn’t been interested, but as Ethan spoke, explaining how his mother was an elven healer and his father just happened to be a tattoo artist, the chef couldn’t have believed his luck.

The two had swapped shifts with the other chefs so they could go to Ethan’s parents together and Sanji was able to pull the runes up without fear as they marked them out and drew up the tattoo. The mark of the runes had to be done in black to cover their glow and so now he had their mark on his arm at all times, even though he had gone to hide them all together. No one questioned it however, not paying any attention to the weird letters surrounded with flames along his entire forearm.

His father had raised an eyebrow over dinner one night wanting to know what brought about the tattoo, but Sanji had shrugged him off and said he’d wanted it for some time. Things finally began to return to normal, or so Sanji had hoped. About two months after he’d walked away from the Manor, his life came crashing down once again.

Inhaling deeply, Sanji opened and closed his hand, flexing his arm and even though he couldn’t see the glow of the runes under the black ink, he knew they were glowing brightly. He could feel the energy of his chakras flowing through him, pooling in his legs and tingling through his fingers, just waiting for him to act. Turning, he slipped one of the frying pans off the rack hanging over the counter and set it on the stove.

Maybe a midnight snack would help calm him a little bit. Sighing, Sanji opened the fridge, pulling out the eggs, milk, cheese and the minced container of peppers and onions. Setting that all on the counter, he let his mind wander, not entirely surprised when Morgan appeared at his feet.

“I got you shortly after I came here,” he mused, looking down to the cat as he curled around his legs. Sanji knew better than to touch the feline, moving to pull some treats from the cabinet instead. Pouring several into his hand, he bent down and let them fall to the floor for Morgan to eat as he mixed a couple eggs together to make a small omelet for himself.

His tattoo had barely healed completely when he’d left his father’s house, and even now the way he did it brought a frown to his face. Leaving work one afternoon, he’d bent his head to light a cigarette, snapping his head up at the call of a raven. A chill ran through his body and he swallowed dryly at the sight of them. There sitting on the edge of the dumpster had been Nami and Brook, he’d know those two birds anywhere at this point. Nami was staring at him, her black eyes following him as he made his way to his car. Brook had his head turned toward the sky, cawing madly as if he were laughing at the chef. From there he’d gone to the bank, emptied his account, packed a bag at home, called his father and just drove until he hoped he was far enough away.

Sanji had ended up almost across the country several long days later. Tired and looking to sleep in a place other than the back of his car, Sanji had stumbled into a bed and breakfast to spend the evening and get something that wasn’t from a gas station to eat. That’s when he’d seen her, and Sanji be damned if the sight of a normal human wasn’t the best thing in the world to him. Her name was Monet and in that moment Sanji decided he wanted to try and start over here in this small town. The blond had paid for his room, taken his key, wished the girl a good night and had slept soundly for the first time in a long time.

Of course it all came crashing back down on him the next morning when he stepped into the dining room for breakfast. “Agatha isn’t that bad of a boss though, is she?” Mumbling to both himself and his cat, Sanji turned back to his stove, bowl of omelet mix in his left hand.

Turning the dial for the front burner, Sanji could hear the hiss of the gas as he moved his fingers under the handle of the pan. One good thing that had come about his move had been his chance to learn more about his element. The flames flared to life under his pan and he grunted to himself in approval.

Sanji no longer required some sort of flame to create his fires, able to call them of his own free will when he wanted. Hell, if he really wanted to be fancy, and was working with cast iron, he didn’t even need to use the stove, he could simply heat the metal on his own. Being a Master of fire had its perks he’d discovered.

Morgan yowled at his feet and Sanji looked down at the cat. “Sorry, no more treats for you.” Morgan blinked at him before turning and hopping off, his one front leg making his gait a tad funny.

With a sigh, Sanji poured his mixture into the pan, picking out his favorite spatula from the container by the stove. Watching the eggs start to cook at the edge of his pan, Sanji couldn’t help but count off how much he would need to cook for the bed and breakfast that morning.

He’d almost fled that fateful day when he, himself, had come for breakfast after the first night he’d stayed at his current job. At first look Agatha was beyond beauty, long silver hair with light blue eyes. She’d smiled at Sanji and asked him what he’d wanted for breakfast and Sanji had just assumed the shimmer he saw was from the hot pan in front of her. When she stepped out from behind the counter, Sanji blinked a few times only to realize she was a white centaur. He’d nearly dropped his plate. His instant reaction had been to flee, but dammit, he knew this was going to happen no matter where he went, so he had swallowed and tried to remain calm.

Humming to himself, Sanji turned his eggs in the pan with a sigh. “Maybe I will make tea. Morgan, that sound like a good idea?” Looking over his shoulder, he frowned at seeing he was talking to himself in the dark kitchen. “Oh well.” Shrugging, he turned back to his eggs and finished cooking them.

Scraping them onto a plate, Sanji flicked his eyes to the clock. Hell, it was early enough: Monet should sleep for another couple hours or so. Taking a mug off the shelf, he filled it with water, grabbed a tea bag and made his way out to the living room. Setting the plate on the coffee table, he sat back with a groan, and wrapped both hands around his mug.

Sanji rested his elbow on the arm on the couch, tucking his legs up under his butt and looked down to his tea. Letting his chakras flow freely, Sanji easily warmed the water in his mug, a small curl of steam drifting from the top of the water a few moments later.

Monet shifted in their bed and he looked over his shoulder into the darkness of their bedroom. She was human with no idea magic even existed. At first Sanji thought it had been a joke Agatha had told him, given the fact that everyone that worked in the small bed and breakfast was from that world. Most of the people that came knocking at the door were as well, but after some time Sanji came to realize, she was clouded like he had been. She truly had no idea magic was real.

The first week after Sanji had arrived, had been a whirlwind of commotion. Nero, Agatha’s husband and a fae, had offered him a job and given him lodging in one of the small cabins until he could get a place of his own. Sanji had declined at first, but the fae had insisted and eventually Sanji had given in.

Working at the small place was nice. It was him, Agatha and the dishwasher in the back. He still didn’t know the guy’s name, not that Sanji really wanted to. It was really hard to pronounce and they just ended up calling him Groggle instead. The little gremlin-troll-thing ate out of the sink trap and lived out behind the dumpster. But he was clean. Somehow. Sanji still didn’t quite know how the troll managed to stay clean, but for the most part Groggle stayed out of Sanji’s space, so he didn’t bother with it.

Morgan jumped up onto the couch, crawling into Sanji’s lap and the blond froze, not daring to move. He wouldn’t say he was afraid of his cat, but like the shelter had told him, the feline did bite and he bit hard. In a rare case, Morgan started purring, closing his eyes and dozing off.

Sanji sipped his tea and sighed. He’d been here for a year and a half, or just about, and so far with the exception of those nightmares, had not seen a thing that could be connected to the Manor. For a time Sanji hadn’t thought about it, but as things started to settle in his new home, memories flared up and he couldn’t help but think about them all.

He’d almost called Usopp a few times, but stopped himself. He missed the faun, but it wasn’t worth possibly re-hatching shit with Zoro. Sanji just knew that shitty dragon was mocking him even now and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. Sanji still thought about him; was still in love with him. He could admit that now. He’d figured that out shortly after leaving, that part of the reason he was so upset with the Southern Green was that he had fallen for him over the course of his time at the Manor and being utterly rejected had hurt him deeply.

It was a bitter taste that rose in his throat and a mouthful of warm tea did nothing to make the feeling go away. Sanji had been with Monet for a little over a year now, yet he knew he didn’t love her because some part of him was still hoping for a relationship with Zoro. A relationship that he knew was never going to happen. Not just because Sanji had purposely moved himself just about as far away from the shitty lizard as he could get, either.

Zoro wasn’t interested. Hell, Zoro had barely acknowledged him beyond a means for food while he was at the Manor. The bastard had most likely forgotten all about him by now. So then, why did it hurt so much? Why couldn’t Sanji just get over him and move on?

Granted, Sanji was better than it used to be. For a time after he’d made his realization, it’d been a daily struggle to keep moving forward and keep looking ahead. Maybe that was partly why Nami and Brook had found him so easily. Sanji knew he had spent a lot of time thinking about all of them at the Manor. Seeing the ravens had scared him though. Scared him to his core and despite his want to see his friends and his feelings for Zoro, he couldn’t bring himself to face any of them. So he’d ran and that had led him here. Had led him to his job, his girlfriend and new life. A life he was… happy with.

Yes. Happy. A word he kept using over and over again, but who was he trying to convince at this point? Them or himself. He was happy with his job. He was happy with his increased abilities with fire and he was happy to be able to call himself a Master at this point. Morgan made him happy as the feline kept the ravens away. And Monet; Monet… well, she had filled the void, for a while anyway.

Sanji knew he cared for the girl and he knew she deserved better. She deserved someone who could commit their whole heart to her, not someone who was still in love with another. She needed someone who was blind to the realm of magic and someone who she could grow old with. Sanji knew that couldn’t ever be him. Eventually she would find out about his abilities and that right there would break a trust that could never be repaired.

“You’re up early.” A hand to his shoulder startled Sanji and he looked up to see Monet smiling down at him. “And you made eggs.”

“I didn’t even hear the alarm go off,” Sanji mumbled looking down at his empty cup still clutched in his hands, wondering when he had drank it all. He glanced at his untouched plate of eggs and scowled at them. He’d forgotten he’d even made them, so caught up with thinking about shitty dragons he’d never see again.

“It didn’t.” Kissing his cheek, Monet stood back up and moved around the couch to sit next to him. “I woke up before it and shut it off. You okay? You looked like you were deep in thought.” As she spoke, Monet leaned against Sanji, sighing as she snuggled close.

“I was,” Sanji almost whispered, looking away. How did he tell her that he was out here thinking of another? Of the one who he wished was a lover. “Let’s get ready to go. If we get to the bed and breakfast early enough, I will make you more muffins.” Carefully, he pushed her away, standing up and dropping the cat to the floor.

In typical Morgan fashion, he hissed and spat, scurrying off to find a new place to sulk and hide. As Sanji picked up his plate of now cold eggs, Monet stood as well. He sighed as he watched her move quietly back into the bedroom. Today was going to be one of those day, he simply knew it.


	2. Book One: Pumice

“Where are those muffins, Darling?”

Sanji rolled his eyes as his boss stepped into the kitchen. Nero was a nice enough guy, truly he was, but he was a little flamboyant and sometimes it got on Sanji’s neves. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but he was a grown ass man, he didn’t need to be called ‘darling.’ “Counter,” he grunted as he stood up from where he had been returning the muffin trays to their home. “Smell good, don’t they?”

“Everything you make is divine. Don’t tell Agatha though, she would have my head.” Snatching a muffin, the fae flicked white eyes to meet Sanji’s as he pushed black hair back behind an ear. “Oh, and how are you feeling?”

“Feeling? I’m fine. Why?” Sanji moved about as he spoke, listening and talking to his boss, but still working on lunch for the day. Agatha was off at the local farmer’s market gathering fresh vegetables for some dish she was making for dinner tomorrow and that meant he needed to get the main prep for today done by himself.

“Monet, you silly boy. I sent her home a little while ago. She wasn’t feeling well. I hope she’s all right.” Nero picked at his muffin, small pinches making it to his mouth. “It’s quiet up front right now so I thought I would come back here and ask how you were feeling. Not that you have ever been sick before.”

Sanji shrugged, setting a large metal bowl on the counter and moving to the sink to get the strainer of lettuce. Groggle scurried passed for the dishwasher, making the chef pause before tripping over the guy, glaring at him as he went. “She seemed fine this morning. That was before I gave her a muffin though.”

Nero stopped chewing and gave his breakfast a sour look before swallowing hesitantly. Sanji simply chuckled as he set the strainer down and picked up his knife. Salad was on the menu for lunch, along with grilled chicken breast with wild rice and honey glazed carrots. It was a simple dish, but one both himself and Agatha loved to make. Sanji watched from the corner of his eye as the fae set his muffin down on the edge of the counter.

“Yes, well, she was complaining of not feeling well, so I just let her go home. Better to be safe than sorry; poor girl.” Shaking his head slightly, Nero crossed his arms. “You may want to go check on her in your down time.”

“All right,” Sanji nodded, picking up his cutting board and tipping the first head of cut lettuce into the large bowl. “You will have to watch him though.” Sanji paused to jerk his head in the direction of the dishwasher. “We have raw chicken today, you know how he gets with chicken bones.”

“Ew…” Nero scrunched his nose. “You can leave when Agatha gets back then.” Picking up his muffin, Nero waggled his fingers at the blond and left him alone.

Sanji had to chuckle, even if it was short lived as Groggle came to the other side of his table, fingers gripping at the edge as his eyes peered over the top of the shiny metal. “No,” Sanji warned him, brandishing his knife. “You wait until I am done, or I will make sure you don’t get any chicken.”

The troll made some sound, something that sounded like a growl mixed with a curse and narrowed his brown eyes at Sanji. Sanji glared back, tipping his head down a little and giving the troll a flat look. “We can do this all day you little grubby twerp, you know I will win.”

Groggle snarled something at him in what the chef could only surmount was whatever language trolls spoke before he flipped him off and went back to licking plates before he set them in the dishwasher trays. Sanji gave a shudder and was very glad that Agatha had one of the cleanest kitchens he’d ever had the pleasure of working in. There was no way he’d ever eat off of one of those plates if he didn’t know the water temperature they were cleaned in.

Sanji finished with the lettuce, setting the scraps bucket down near the edge of the dish counter, smirking to himself as Groggle garbled out something that sounded happy and jumped on the leafy green cores he couldn’t put in the salad. There was hardly ever any waste in the kitchen and that made Sanji happy. That troll constantly ate!

Large strainer in one hand, Sanji went into the walk-in gathering the rest of the vegetables for the salad before returning to set it in the sink. Just as he was rolling his sleeves to wash them, Groggle came over, the gurgle-like sound of his voice close as he tugged at his pants and raised a hand. “I don’t have any more for you yet.” He really didn’t know what the little guy was saying and the urge to kick him was strong, but he resisted it and frowned down at him. Large and teary eyes peered up at him through very dirty black hair. Sanji was pretty sure the troll didn’t bathe either. “You can have a muffin though. Do you want one?”

With wide eyes, Groggle gave Sanji a excited nod and ran for the front prep table, bare feet slapping on the tiles. He pawed at the countertop, jumping and trying to reach but he just wasn’t tall enough. Trolls were kind of fun to have around, Sanji guessed, when it came to things like this. Laughing, he picked up a muffin and held it high in his hand. “You go outside and eat this. Take a little break. When you come in, I will have more vegetable scraps for you. Got it?”

Another nod and when Sanji lowered the item, Groggle jumped at him, snatching the food and running for the back door. “Hey! Groggle,” Agatha yelled, stomping a foot as the little guy ran between her back legs and no doubt disappeared behind the dumpster. “Sanji!”

“Hold on, I’m coming.” He jogged across the small kitchen to take the crate of vegetables from her and turned to set them on the counter. “You have more I take it.” Grabbing the door, he followed her out to the delivery truck. She would have walked there and back, a simple thing for a centaur, but with the amount of food she had, they would have needed to cart it back. The driver waved from his spot in the front of the truck and Sanji waved back before moving to the back.

There were several crates loaded with all sorts of fresh vegetables, fruits and even some breads and meats. Sanji couldn’t keep the grin off his face as his mind started coming up with all sorts of crazy things he could make with all this stuff!

“What are you smiling about?” Agatha pulled another wooden crate toward herself with a flick of her tail. “You’re in a better mood now than you were this morning.”

“Hm? Yeah,” Sanji smiled, despite the fact his mind was once more flooded with thoughts of his morning. Exhaling with a sigh, he pulled a crate toward himself and followed his boss inside. “It’s been just me and Groggle all morning.”

“What did he have anyway?”

“I gave him one of my muffins I made. He was begging for food scraps again.”

“Oh.” Setting the box she was holding next to the first, she smiled. Sanji had to admit, he melted a little inside at it. “Typical Groggle then.”

“Yes.” The two walked back out to finish getting the wooden crates and sent the driver on his way. Between them both they took a quick inventory of their new supplies and Agatha left to give Nero the receipts to the things she bought.

When she came back she crossed her arms at him, making Sanji pause in his work of deboning one of the chickens. Groggle was literally under his feet waiting for a bone to chew on. “You can go home.”

“What?” Sanji turned to her and gave his boss a flat look.

“Monet is sick, I hear. Go home and tend to her, I got the afternoon prep, just come back to help me with dinner.” Agatha came around the table, her hooves clacking on the floor as she shooed Sanji from his spot.

Sanji set the knife down, frowning at her as he moved aside. “I should stay and help.”

“You should go and make sure she feels better. I would do the same for Nero.”

“You’re married to him though,” Sanji squawked at her as he crossed his arms. Huffing, he remembered he was covered in raw chicken, stopping before he got his shirt dirty and stalked over to the sink to wash his hands, still arguing over his shoulder at her. “We aren’t.”

“You live together and have been dating for a while now.” The white centaur sighed. “I probably shouldn’t even be talking to you about this.”

“About what,” Sanji grumbled at his soapy hands, sticking them back under the water to wash them clean. Shutting off the faucet, he snatched the towel and turned to face Agatha.

Sighing again, she set the knife down and shook her head. “I know you aren’t ready. I can see it on your face. You have something from your past you haven’t worked through and I get that. I don’t want to know what it is, it’s not my business, but, Sanji… Monet is.”

“Is what? You aren’t making any sense, Agatha.” He walked over to the opposite side of the prep table and rested his hands on it. Gripping the towel tight in one hand, Sanji frowned at his boss. He had no idea what she was talking about or how it could involve Monet.

“She’s a nice girl, even if she is clouded. We talk, you know this and lately, she’s; well, she’s talked about getting married.”

“Married?” Sanji stepped back, shock contorting his face. “I— we— married?”

“Shhh…” Waving a hand, Agatha giggled, flicking her eyes to the door. “Keep your voice down. If Nero hears of it, we are all doomed. I know you are not ready, and to marry a clouded no less. But you need to be aware of what she wants, as well. I am not saying to break up with her. I am not saying to marry her. I am asking you to think about what you have been through and try to figure out what it is that you want, Sanji.”

“What I want?” Sanji flicked his gaze away, shining green scales flashing before his eyes. Frowning, he swallowed and nodded, mumbling under his breath. “I can’t have what I want.”

“Sanji, look at me.” Fingers against his chin made him snap his head up, seeing Agatha’s soft look. “It’s hard to be in your place. From what you have told me, you were thrown into this world by force and that’s never easy. Now you have to keep a large part of who you are a secret from the one you love.”

“Yeah.” Sanji flicked his eyes away again, staring off at Groggle who was back behind the dish counter as he rubbed absently at his tattoo. He’d managed to snag a bone and was happily sucking the marrow out of it. “It’s hard at home, and here, as well.” He shrugged a little as the centaur cupped his cheek. “I have to hide and lie to use my abilities and train around her, it’s difficult.” Shrugging again, Sanji took a deep breath. “I know I care about her, but I can’t help but feel sometimes that if I could just be me, like I can in here, I would be a greater Master. I know I will never be like the elemental that gave me this power, but I could be more. Do more.”

“Sanji. Honey,” Agatha started, her voice soft and calm. “What do you want? I know you don’t want to hurt anyone, but you need to do what’s right for you. Now, go home and tend to Monet. Make yourself some tea as you do and think. All right?”

“All right.” Nodding he pulled away. “I will come back for dinner.”

“Feel better, Hun. I mean it, I would rather see you actually happy again.” Smiling at him, Agatha shooed him with a hand. “Go on, out the back so Nero doesn’t see you leave.”

Without answering her, Sanji grabbed his jacket and slipped out the back door to walk the short distance to his and Monet’s apartment. Lighting a cigarette as he walked, he sucked in a deep drag and exhaled in a large cloud of white. Agatha was right though, he really needed to figure out what he wanted. Closing his eyes for a moment, Sanji hissed under his breath and pulled at his hair. Why did things have to be so complicated? Why couldn’t he just get over that shitty bastard so he could move on?

Sanji slammed the butt of his cigarette against his lips and stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders and grumbling under his breath as he walked home. Even moving across the country hadn’t helped. Well, it had, for a while. Then the nightmares started up again and he couldn’t help but think of the Manor and Zoro.

His dreams were never as vivid as the one he’d had when his ribs had been broken by the crazy bastard, but he always woke wanting more. He was usually wishing he could feel the warmth of the dragon’s skin against his one more time and see those scales flash under the sun, wet from the water of his pool or have that golden eye trained on him as they sparred. Hell, he just wanted to be recognized by him for that matter.

“Dammit all.” Turning up his steps, Sanji opened the front door to their little apartment, tossing his keys onto the table that stood nearby. Shrugging off his jacket, he kicked off his shoes.

“Sanji, hun, is that you?” Monet’s voice sounded slightly muffled as it flowed through the rooms of their apartment. She also sounded slightly confused, which would make sense since you couldn’t see the door from the living room.

“Yeah,” he replied, turning to hang his jacket up. “How you feeling? Nero said you went home early because you didn’t feel well and in the end Agatha sent me home for a while, as well. She wanted me to check on you to make sure you are feeling better. I got to be back there at three, but I got a couple hours now.”

Skirting around the wall into the kitchen, Sanji stopped by the stove and flicked on the burner under the tea kettle, barely resisting the urge to just light it with his fire. “Do you want some tea?”

“I have some.”

“Well, I am gonna make some for me then.” Turning Sanji grabbed his mug he’d washed that morning and a new tea bag. Sighing, he leaned his ass on the counter island, his back to the living room and crossed his arms to wait for the water to boil in the kettle on the stove. That was the one thing he hated about Monet being up, he couldn’t cheat at heating and cooking food or drinks.

“Hey, Sanji.”

“Yeah?” Leaning his head back, the blond raised a hand to loosen his tie a little bit and looked into the living room. Monet was curled up where he had been sitting that morning, blanket thrown over her shoulders, facing toward the chair that lay out of sight. “What do you need? I can get it.”

“Nothing, but,” there was a slight pause and Sanji turned to face her over the counter. Her eyes flicked from him to the chair and back as she bit at her lip. “How come you never told me about your friend?”

“Friend?” Instantly, Sanji went into alert. Who the hell was in his house and how long had they been here alone with his girlfriend? “I don’t have any friends here, Monet.” Skirting around the counter, Sanji flew to the living room doorway, body tensed to fight.

He halted when his toes met the carpet, mouth dropping open at the sight of their visitor in the chair. Sanji stood there simply staring for a moment, not really sure how to act. He had no idea how to respond to this intrusion. He had never expected this kind of situation to happen. Anger boiled over and he snapped his hands into fists as he tipped his head forward slightly in anger. Shifting his stance back into one he could easily attack from, Sanji met his unwanted guest’s face and growled, “What in the fuck are you doing here?”


	3. Book One: Pumice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've done a little editing to these chapters that I wrote a few years back, but not a lot. I decided I wanted to leave them in their original glory. I wrote up through about chapter 7, but I'm not sure how far past 3 I actually published. Oh well, we will see how things work out.

He had no idea what Monet saw, but to Sanji there was no mistaking the green hair or tanned skin. The golden hue of the dragon’s single eye swirled brightly as the two looked at one another. The slight scowl on his mouth deepened into an actual frown as his hands gripped the edge of the chair to stand. Subconsciously, Sanji took a step back. “Really,” the bastard tipped his head to the side slightly. “Is that anyway to greet me?”

Sanji bit his tongue before he snapped and said something he really shouldn’t have. He looked over to Monet, who was staring at him, sheer horror at his actions clear on her face. She inhaled to speak at the same time their visitor rose to his feet. Closing her mouth to shoot a glare at Sanji instead, Monet was clearly upset at Sanji’s reaction. Sanji couldn’t blame her, but she obviously either couldn’t _see_ him or didn’t know what he was if he was showing her the green hair. Ripping his attention away from his pissed off girlfriend, Sanji returned to glaring at the other man.

“Don’t.” The blond shook his head and swallowed, pointing a shaking hand at the dragon. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “I have to be dreaming. This is just another one of my horrible nightmares. This isn’t real. Monet, wake me up.”

“Sanji! This is no way to treat a guest!” The firm tone of his girlfriend’s voice made him open his eyes to meet those of his visitor. He couldn’t help himself. Sanji let his eyes trail over tanned skin, taking in the deep tracked scarring across his eyes and nose before meeting the one eye; now gold instead of white.

So many emotions and questions swirled through Sanji’s head, but the one thing that kept popping up over and over again was _how?_ How had he done it? How had he managed to track him down? How had he gotten here? How come now? “I have nothing to say to this bastard,” Sanji hissed, yet he knew he had so much that he wanted to say; wanted to do. Sanji grabbed his arm, rubbing along his tattoo under his shirt.

“Well, I have a few things to say to you. We need to talk.” The other man crossed his arms and glared at Sanji as if he expected the chef to listen to his words. He didn’t break eye contact when he spoke again, his tone deep and commanding. He fully expected Sanji to jump to his will, the chef realized. “Sit down, Cook.”

“Do _not_ tell me what to do in my own home, Zoro. This isn’t your territory here, this is mine. I don’t listen to you.” Sanji met the dragon’s glare head on, making him raise an eyebrow at Sanji’s outburst. Zoro shrugged and sat back down in the chair like nothing was amiss.

Rage flared through Sanji and he saw red. How _dare_ Zoro come into his home like this! How dare he come into his life now of all times! Without thinking, Sanji kicked out, swinging around and aiming a solid heel to the side of the dragon’s head.

The blond barely saw him move, ducking down to miss the strike and easily moving back to his feet. He felt the reptile’s hands wrap around his shin and keep his momentum going, throwing him toward the far side of the room. Sanji’s shoulder hit the wall of the living room and he spun to face Zoro. He pressed his shoulder blades against the wall, keeping his legs poised for attack. “You’ve gotten fast.” Glancing over his shoulder to Monet, Zoro turned back to Sanji with that feral grin plastered across his face. “I missed our fights.”

“Fuck you,” Sanji screamed at him. “How dare you? After all this time?” His blood was on fire, racing through his veins and just fueling him on. He could feel his energy flowing, raging with his own anger. He wanted desperately to make contact, to get one good solid hit on Zoro.

“I’m not the one who left,” Zoro yelled back, much to Sanji’s shock. He’d never heard the dragon lose his cool like that before and he simply gawked for a moment as the drake snapped his mouth shut and squared his shoulders. He growled low in his throat, narrowing his eyes and weaving his head slightly to the side much like he would have done if he was in his true form.

“So this is my fault?” Monet forgotten, Sanji kept yelling, refusing to calm himself and letting the wild nature that was fire take control. He didn’t do so often, but he was so bitter with Zoro and that entire situation that having the other man in his living room just made him tip that scale. He’d spent the last two years trying to run from that life, from _him;_ so to have Zoro in his home, his sanctuary, pissed him off greatly.

Zoro narrowed his eye at him slightly. The dragon must have sensed his emotions fluctuating, but that didn’t seem to stop him. “Yes,” he shook his head. “Well, no.” Heaving a sigh, he ran a hand through his cropped green hair, dropping it heavily to smack against his thigh. “Dammit, Cook.”

“Don’t ‘dammit, cook’ me, asshole! Two years.” Sanji held up his hand, fingers splayed to emphasize his point. “Two years I have been trying to forget you. Trying to start over. Trying to move on.” Sanji hissed the words out, taking a step away from the wall as he did. “You knew how I felt about you! And you just— just—”

Zoro didn’t answer him as the dragon flicked his eye to stare at the floor off to the side. The kettle in the kitchen began to whistle and Sanji smirked as he saw the other man flinch at the high pitched sound. Taking a deep breath, Sanji expected Zoro to scream at him again. He fully expected Zoro to spit more jabs about how horrible he was. Instead, the drake met his eyes quietly, the look on his face one Sanji had never seen there before. There was a calmness there, his eye tinged with sorrow. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? You’re sorry? _I’m_ sorry!” Sanji snapped a hand to his chest, feeling the heel of his palm thump against his ribs. “Sorry I ever wanted anything to do with you. Sorry I still do. Sorry I can’t live my life the way I want because you…” he paused, searching for the right word. “ _Plague_ me.”

“What happened at the Manor, it was wrong. I was wrong. I should have told you then, but I didn’t know myself. I thought I would have more time to figure it out.”

“What are you talking about?” Sanji dropped his arm to his side, furrowing his brow and shaking his head. “Everything that happened at the Manor was fucked up. All of it. The only good that came…” he stopped, biting his lip and looking over to Monet. Her eyes were wide, but she was quiet, simply watching the goings on between himself and the dragon, shock clear on her face. He’d never mentioned his life at the Manor much beyond it being a job that didn’t work out. Who the hell knew what Zoro had told her before he got here, not that it mattered as it was quite clear from their argument now, it had been a lot.

“I’m not very good at expressing myself,” Zoro mumbled, rubbing at his neck and making Sanji turn his attention back to him. Why was the drake acting like this?

“Well, no shit!” Sanji threw his arms in the air with a dry, sarcastic chuckle. “Holy cow, I never knew.”

“Would you shut up and listen to me,” Zoro snapped back, baring sharpened teeth at him. That made Sanji raise an eyebrow at the dragon. Closing his eye, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The drake kept his eye closed as he spoke. “I was scared. It’s not something I can admit easily, but I was. It’s been a long time since I have felt for someone the way I do you and it scared me when I first came to realize it.” Zoro sighed. “When we realized Hydra had kidnapped you, I didn’t know what to do. I freaked out and was ready to go after you. Alone, without my sight, into what was clearly a trap. I was so shaken, that I wasn’t thinking clearly.” Finally Zoro opened his eye, the gold swirling slowly. “I know what it meant though, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that type of commitment again. So I pushed it aside and then you left.”

“What are you saying,” Sanji breathed out, his heart clenching in his chest. Was this some sort of confession? Had he mistaken Zoro’s stoic and rude behaviours when he left as indifference, when they had just been the dragon trying to figure out his own shit? Did Zoro actually love him the way Sanji did the selfish reptile? Once more anger rose in Sanji and he lashed out this time, taking advantage of the fact the dragon had his eye closed once again. Without even thinking he lunged for Zoro, aiming a kick square for the shitty bastard’s chest.

The dragon reacted swiftly, grabbing a hold of his leg and spinning them, slamming Sanji’s back against the wall and pinning him there. Zoro’s body pressed flush against his own, that familiar heat seeping into Sanji’s core easily. The hand that had grabbed his leg lingered on the chef’s thigh. Sanji growled at the drake, struggling to get free, snarling right in his face. “Get off me, Zoro!”

The dragon did the exact opposite, instead pressing his weight onto Sanji and using that and his superior strength to keep the chef pinned against the wall. Monet screamed, crying hysterically now, but it fell away as the other man spoke quietly. Once again his voice held the husky tone that was for Sanji’s ears alone. “I know what it means.” Zoro’s voice was low as his eye glowed bright and darted about Sanji’s face. He tipped his head to the side slightly, narrowing his eye as if in deep thought. It seemed to Sanji, that despite speaking out loud, the dragon seemed to be talking to himself more than Sanji. “I will watch you grow old and I will watch you die, leaving me alone again. I will die a little inside, but that’s okay because…” Zoro stopped talking and Sanji stopped struggling, panting as he tried to slow his breathing.

Sanji’s heart was racing. The feel of the dragon’s body pressed against his own, the warmth seeping through his pants from where Zoro kept his hand on the blond’s leg and the tone of his voice… All things Sanji had dreamt about time and time again at the Manor and times after that, just simply wishing the old dragon had returned his affections.

The kettle still whistled in the kitchen, but Sanji wasn’t hearing it anymore. He watched as Zoro licked his lips, tongue darting out to slip over the scar that cut through his bottom lip. The chef mimicked the action, letting his eyes wander over the scarring until he met the dragon’s eye. Zoro was gazing at him intently and Sanji swallowed. He felt the fight leave him as a calm stole over him. Then they were kissing and Sanji could hardly believe what was going on. Eyes sliding closed, he let his head fall back to hit the wall, but Zoro was chasing after him, never breaking the kiss and only deepening it when Sanji had nowhere to escape to. The dragon nipped at his lower lip, hands moving up into Sanji’s hair. In turn, the chef raised his own arms, settling them around the drake’s neck and opening his mouth when Zoro asked with a flick of his tongue. He’d dreamt of this single moment for years and here it was happening. Sanji melted into the dragon’s embrace, letting the wall hold him up as he moaned lowly into Zoro’s mouth. Then he was gone, inhaling deeply and resting his forehead against Sanji’s own. “You don’t smell like me anymore,” Zoro huffed, clearly not impressed with him as Sanji chuckled quietly.

Reality came crashing back down however, the moment of blissful longing shattering as Sanji realized what had just happened. Both his arms slammed against the dragon’s chest, pushing him back as Sanji jumped away from him. “What the hell, Cook,” Zoro snapped as he stumbled back a pace.

“You can’t just come back and expect everything to go your way!” Sanji was practically screaming again. “I have a life here!” With that he looked over to Monet, who met his eyes and slowly stood. Her skin was flushed and her eyes, red and teary, were wide in shock. Shit! She’d just seen him kiss this random stranger, someone from a past she knew nothing about. And on top of it all, Sanji had enjoyed the kiss and he knew Monet had seen it. Without even thinking, Sanji licked at his lower lip, meeting his girlfriend’s grief stricken face.

“Sanji,” she started and he moved to go to her when Zoro tackled him, slamming his back against the opposite wall and growling in his face. Monet was screaming now, the shock of what had just happened clear in the sound. This time though it made Sanji wonder if Zoro had broken the veil for her as he’d done to him.

The growl deepened and began that feral rumble the salamander only emitted when he was truly pissed off. It vibrated through Sanji’s chest and throughout his entire body as the blond struggled to get out of the drake’s solid grip. Sanji wasn’t afraid of Zoro, never had been, and he snapped his eyes open to glare at Zoro. The gold of the shitty lizard’s eye was glowing now, giving away just how pissed off the dragon truly was. Sanji was actually surprised he hadn’t shifted to that hybrid form just so he could start flicking his tail like an angry cat. “I have been searching for you. I had Robin send the ravens and I have been all over this land looking for you. And I find you here, mated to a _clouded_ even.” Zoro’s tone was deadly, each word growled out angrily.

“Leave her out of this,” Sanji snarled at Zoro, baring his teeth in the same aggressiveness that the dragon was doing to him.

Pulling his head back a little, the reptile chuckled lowly at him. “You think you can threaten me? I will _break_ you, Cook.” The single eye narrowed as Zoro’s hands flexed dangerously on Sanji’s upper arms. Sanji could feel the bite of his sharp nails digging into his skin through his shirt as if the dragon meant to actually harm him. Sanji wasn’t fully sure if Zoro didn’t mean to physically harm him or not. He growled low in his throat once more.

“Do I look like I am kidding? Who the fuck do you think you are, Zoro?” Sanji spoke lowly, dangerously, as he narrowed his eyes back at the dragon. “You have a lot of nerve just showing up like this.”

“I’m calling Agatha!” Monet was sobbing now, Sanji could hear it in her voice as she ran for the bedroom and no doubt her cell phone. There was the slam of the bedroom door, but Sanji didn’t dare break the dragon’s gaze or back down from him. He may have been the one whose back was to the wall, but dammit, he wasn’t a coward. He’d never turned away from a challenge from Zoro and he didn’t plan to start now either.

“I need you to listen to me, Cook,” Zoro started, completely ignoring the girl now that she was out of the room. The damned bastard was still single minded that was for sure. “I want you to come back. I need your help.”

Sanji laughed, literally burst into a fit of laughter right in the bastard’s face. He watched as the scars crinkled in the dragon’s confusion as he tipped his head to the side slightly. The blond could just see the questioning look of what was so funny across Zoro’s face. “You need to leave,” Sanji replied a moment later through his dying laughter. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”

“Not until you come with me.” Zoro bared his teeth again, sharp canine’s shining in the afternoon sun. “You’re the only one who can help me.”

“Yeah, I doubt that. You can’t come back here under the guise of actually wanting a relationship, Zoro, and expect me to fall for it. You fucked me up, Zoro, both physically and mentally. There is no way I am going to listen to your shit.” Shifting his shoulders against the wall, Sanji moved his foot. He could feel the anger growing again and the want to lash out with more than just his feet. The energy in his body was humming with the want to ignite, his barely contained rage at the dragon just appearing in his life consuming him. And not only that, but the fucker had kissed him. Sanji didn’t want or need to deal with that sort of confusion right now. It was best to just get away from Zoro and vanish once again.

“Sanji!” Monet sounded frantic from the doorway of their bedroom. “She’s on her way!”

“You stupid fuck,” Zoro hissed out at Sanji. “I don’t want you to come back just to be my mate. I need your help. I’m sure even you have felt the shift in the elements over the last couple years. This isn’t just about what I want. This is about the whole world.”

All the fight left Sanji for a moment as Zoro spoke. Come to think of it, things had been off recently. His fire abilities seemed stronger now than they had been before, but he didn’t have the same control over them and Sanji knew he’d gotten stronger, was a more capable Master than before. “Zoro,” Sanji started, a confused sort of pain crossing the chef’s face. Could it be? Had something happened? “Hydra, is he—”

The loud slam of his front door hitting the wall broke his train of thought and the Agatha appeared in the doorway to the living room. Monet burst into tears again, running to her and practically jumping into the woman’s arms. Anger flared through Sanji anew and he took the moment of shock to his advantage, kicking out at Zoro and actually catching the lizard off guard.

The dragon stumbled back, falling to a knee as the blond kicked out at him again and put some distance between them. Sanji moved to Agatha and Monet as the drake stood back up, rising to his full height and crossing his arms. The chef could see the shimmer rise from his shoulders, that heat that was the only telltale sign that Zoro was possibly thinking of transforming.

Agatha gasped behind him, a hand grabbing at his shirt and pulling Sanji back. “Who is that? I have never felt an energy like that before! He’s from your past?”

“A centaur, how fitting.” Zoro snorted, his eye glowing brightly. Sanji was pretty sure he rolled his eye, but with the glow it was impossible to tell right now. The shimmer around him was growing stronger, but the drake showed no signs of changing. What exactly was Zoro’s tactic here? He was all over the place. Pissed off one moment and basically begging Sanji to return to the Manor with him the next.

“Yes,” Sanji nodded, never taking his eyes off Zoro. He turned his head slightly though to answer his boss. “That’s him. One of the reasons I left.”

“Ah, you know me then.” Raising an arm slightly, Sanji was taken aback when the dragon called those weird ass water globes to his sides the same way his Shadow had done. Unlike Pab, who only had a couple, there were more of them, creating a perfect half circle over the top of Zoro’s head. All of them were perfectly round, bobbing in the air defensively. “Do not make me fight you, Cook. You will lose.” One of the balls moved to the dragon’s hand, hovering over his upturned palm. “You know what I can do. You will come back with me.”

“I don’t listen to you, Zoro. I am not one of your creatures to command! I am human.” Sanji spat the words out through clenched teeth, fighting with every fiber of his being to not lash out with his flames. He didn’t know why he stopped, the veil was broken, there was no way Monet didn’t see the floating balls of water around the bastard.

Stupid dragon. Once again he was ruining the life he had created for himself. Who cared if it wasn’t exactly what Sanji wanted. It was his shitty little life and Zoro just barged in and made him second guess everything he’d grown to know.

Sanji’s final break in control though was the dragon laughing at him. Sanji saw red and spun, lashing out with a fast kick. He knew he wouldn’t connect, but it didn’t matter. He needed to get his point across to Zoro that he wasn’t going to just drop his life because Zoro decided to come back and get involved.Sanji saw his flames, could see them reflected in the golden eye of the drake and feel the heat lick at his shins. There was a hiss and steam filled the room from the defensive water sphere of the dragon as the drake stepped back a pace to block the hit. Above all that was Monet’s scream.


	4. Book One: Pumice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is more of the old work before I dropped it. I'm not sure this ever got published, but I haven't really changed much of it either. I wanted to leave it as close to it's original format as I could, but there's only a couple more of the old chapters before we start getting into the new content that I have been working on recently.

Zoro kept moving, Monet’s scream echoing around the living room as he did so. The step back he took flowed into an offensive move and as Sanji landed from his kick, one of the water balls exploded against his chest, pushing him back and slamming him against the wall. He dropped to the ground heavily, gasping for breath from the force of the hit.

“Sanji,” Agatha yelled, jolting forward instinctively to move to him.

“Don’t.” Zoro growled at her, raising a hand and one of the balls easily moved into his open palm. The water slithered about, wrapping around his wrist in a thin tendril. “Leave him be. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Leave them alone.” Groaning and coughing, Sanji got back on his feet. He was panting now, trying to regain the air that had been knocked out of his lungs. He was soaked, covered from head to toe in fucking water from that bastard. His flames sputtered and hissed around his calves, not happy about the water that dripped off the blond’s body. “Your fight’s with me.”

Zoro chuckled lowly. “You think this is a fight, you’re hilarious. This is how this is going to go, Cook. You are coming with me. What I want aside, the world is out of balance. With the death of Portgas, and Hydra being locked away, the elements are shifting. Fire is raging out of control, the death of its Master no longer keeping it in check. You must be able to tell. Can’t you feel it?” Zoro’s voice grew soft for just an instant as he almost seemed to plead with Sanji. “I can feel it and it’s not even my element. Earth is just as troublesome. If you can’t feel it in fire, you should at least be able to tell in earth.”

“I can tell you’re an asshole,” Sanji shot back at Zoro, refusing to acknowledge that Zoro was probably right. His fire had been harder to control, the pull on his own chakras tiring him quickly when he had a chance to really get some training in. He hadn’t thought about it having to do with the shitty newt’s brother being killed, but that made the most sense.

Monet shattered the tense moment by screaming again, as if Sanji’s flames and Zoro’s water wasn’t enough, she had turned to Agatha, no doubt seeing the white centaur for who she truly was. At first she took a step toward Sanji, but then stopped, sheer panic on her face at the fact he was standing there with fire licking at his knees in the middle of their living room. “Monet,” Sanji started, jerking to take a step toward her and letting his flames die away.

“No, don’t.” Her voice was shaking, tears running down her face. Her eyes were wide as she took a step back, once more closer to Agatha before she realized what she was doing and jumped away from her as well. “What is going on?” Her voice was stressed, rightly so, hoarse from her crying and yelling. “Sanji, what are you?”

“I’m me. Monet, wait, I can explain.” Trying again, Sanji took a step toward his girlfriend, arm outstretched. She shook her head, taking a step back for every one he took, maintaining the distance between them.

“Don’t touch me,” Monet screamed at Sanji, pulling her arms close to her chest. Looking over her shoulder toward the kitchen doorway, Monet looked to Zoro then Agatha. For the huge asshole that he was being, Zoro didn’t react to her, instead keeping silent and his eye trained on Sanji, his water spheres bobbing silently around him.

Agatha was trying to calm Monet down the same as Sanji was. Her tail swished behind her as she took a step toward her. “It’s all right, Monet, it will all be okay.”

“No!” Shaking her head wildly, Monet stepped back again, finally breaking into the kitchen. The kettle was still screaming on the stove, but she didn’t seem to be hearing it. “I can’t… I— Sanji!” The chef could tell she was torn between staying away from him and going to him. He’d been her main support for over a year now, so it was only natural that she would seek comfort from him, but at the same time, discovering… “Are you some sort of monster?!”

“No.” Sanji kept his voice calm and even. He wouldn’t make this any worse for her than it already had become. “Monet, listen to me carefully. I’m an elementalist. What is happening is something called ‘breaking the veil.’ Normally, it’s not done this way and I’m sorry that—”

“This isn’t  _ real, _ ” Monet interrupted, finally ducking into the kitchen and out of sight of him.

“Monet!” Sanji moved to chase her, but Zoro growled low and several of his water globes moved to surround the chef, blocking his way. “Zoro! Dammit,” Sanji snapped, hands balling into fists as he glared at the dragon.

“I got her.” Agatha turned to chase after Monet, pausing to look at Sanji. Her eyes flicked to Zoro, then back to him. “Are you going to be okay here?”

“What are you gonna do, centaur?” Zoro snorted back a laugh, baring his canines at her.

“Just go, I can handle the shitty lizard.” Sanji never took his eyes off Zoro as his mind raced with ways he could get away from him. He knew he couldn’t physically overpower the dragon, but he may be able to rival his speed. Sanji heard Agatha leave, the front door closing behind her as she chased after Monet.

The bobbing water globes would be a different story. He knew Zoro was fast with them, had seen him use his element with precision while half asleep. Him being awake, alert and in the mood for a fight was going to make escaping much harder.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Cook, just stop.” Zoro took a step closer to him, slipping between his water globes and into the circle with him. Squaring his shoulders, the newt crossed his arms. “You can’t win. We both know it, so just listen to me.”

“What are you doing here?” Sanji felt all the fight leave him and his shoulders sagged slightly. Now that Monet was actually gone and he didn’t have her screaming, he could focus a little better. He was still pissed off at the dragon and he was worried about Monet, but Agatha had gone after her. Monet had most likely run to find Nero given the fact he was still normal to her. Well, she was in for a shock there.

“I told you, the balance has shifted.” Zoro grunted at Sanji, all defensive nature leaving the salamander as quickly as it came. The water spheres bobbed quietly in the air still but didn’t move away. The dragon seemed to be controlling them effortlessly, not even giving it second thought as they floated around Sanji’s living room. “Can’t you feel it?”

“I can,” Sanji admitted. “I thought at first it was simply because I was so far from Sabo.”

“What Sabo gave you, though linked to him, is also independent. You control your fire and the strength in which you wield it. He may have given you the key, your runes, but you have to open the door. And from what I have seen, you threw it wide open.” Zoro grinned at Sanji, sinister and feral. His canines were still sharp and his golden eye gleamed dangerously. “I knew giving you this power was a good idea. You have yet to prove me wrong. It’s why I came looking for you.”

“Why me? Where’s Sabo?” Sanji ran a hand through his hair. He could feel his anger at Zoro melting away, the blinded rage he’d been in at first seeing him slowly being replaced by something more familiar. Warmth flooded through Sanji at finally hearing the praise he’d been craving all that time at the Manor. For the first time, Zoro was seeing him as an equal and not someone who he could simply look down on. Yeah, he had a weird way of going about it and was still overly demanding and authoritative, but it was there. And Sanji found he was craving that attention, that recognition from the fucking bastard now that he was back in his presence. He needed to hear Zoro acknowledge him, even if it was in his typical “you’re actually not worthy” attitude. Pathetic, if Sanji thought about it, but he pushed it from his mind.

“Sabo is off trying to balance things, as well. He’s got Koala and a few others with him. You are the only other fire elementalist I know.”

“You’re a fucking dragon. How can I be the only other fire elementalist you know.” Sanji huffed. That just didn’t seem possible to him.

“I’m a  _ water _ dragon,” Zoro corrected, the globes around them swishing as if to prove his point.

Sanji groaned and rubbed his temples. “I can’t believe this. I need to go and try to find my girlfriend. I don’t have time for your drama right now, Zoro.”

“Maintaining the balance of the world is not drama, Cook. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think you were capable of it.” With a sigh, the drake raised his hand, the water balls all grouping together as one and just hovering in the air nearby. “There’s more to it than just that.”

Sanji narrowed his eyes at Zoro, trying to figure out if the dragon was just toying with him or if he was telling the truth. The drake seemed saddened and almost at a loss. “There’s a threat rising up from the shift in elements. Despite Hydra being locked away, the darkness has risen and it’s consuming Masters.”

“Consuming them how?” Sanj didn’t like the sound of that. Magic, as he’d learned, was not something to simply mess around with. It held great power and one needed to be careful with it.

“Corrupting them. In here.” The dragon brought his hand to his chest over his heart. “Like my brother. Sometimes we can help, but usually all we find is a monster, something we have to put down.”

“So you have been out there killing Masters? And you want me to go with you?” Sanji snorted back a laugh. This got better and better. He could understand the real threat of the darkness, however, that was something he didn’t want to have to get involved with again. Seeing it and being surrounded by it with Hydra was enough for him.

“I want to protect you.” Zoro shook his head, his earrings clinking as he did so. “You’re part of my clutch if— if nothing else, and I want to be able to fight the darkness if it comes for you. And it will come for you.”

“Why would it come for me? What could I possibly offer the shadows?”

“They whisper,” the dragon started, shifting his weight and keeping his voice low. As he spoke, the newt raised his arms, commanding the water once again and sending it away. Where to, Sanji didn’t know, but it seemed to vanish the same way it had appeared. “They seek out those looking for more power and offer it. But it comes with a price, a heavy price. The Masters begin to lose themselves, turning into something they are not, corrupt and dark. They forget who they were and become slaves to their elements. Feral and aggressive, I haven’t ever seen anything like this brought to life.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Zoro shrugged. “I know you have gotten stronger, Cook. I just want to make sure it’s under your own power.”

Sanji flushed through Sanji. "Fuck you; are you saying I’m not capable of handling myself?”

“Not at all. I was just— When the ravens lost you, I got concerned and came to find you myself.” Zoro’s surprisingly soft tone startled Sanji. He felt himself relax a little as the rage drained from his system and he gave a defeated sigh.

“How do we— you stop it,” Sanji asked quietly, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer. A shudder ran through him. Hydra’s power still remained and was now running free among the magical kinds. It was no wonder why Zoro was as spooked as he was.

“We can’t. As long as my brother is locked away, the shadows will continue to try and corrupt the Masters and any other who seeks to learn magic. I am just trying to contain it.” With a sigh, the dragon dropped heavily onto the couch and scrubbed at his face. “And I have been sidetracked with trying to find you. We had you, the ravens spotted you, then you vanished and it’s taken me this long to find you again.”

“Yeah, it was on purpose.” Crossing his arms, Sanji frowned down at the lizard. “I was trying to forget the Manor. And you.”

“I get it.” Zoro raised a hand in surrender. “I could have handled myself better when you left.”

“Ya think?” Sanji gasped in fake shock and snorted in annoyance. “Zoro, look, I understand why you want me to go with you, I do, but I can’t just leave. I have a life here, a girlfriend.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, too. I don’t think you do anymore.”

“Ugh.” Flinging his hands into the air, Sanji dropped heavily onto the couch next to the dragon. He had so many things running through his head right now and it was just overwhelming. Sanji didn’t know what to think or do really at this point. Zoro was probably right, he didn’t have a girlfriend anymore. Monet wasn’t going to want to go anywhere near him or Agatha, or Nero either. And he had a shitty useless reptile to thank for that. What was he going to do about Zoro anyway? Groaning, Sanji leaned back against the couch and scrubbed his hands at his face. “So, what do you want from me, Zoro?”

“Roronoa.” The drake’s voice was low, sounding on the verge of sad.

“What?” Sanji pulled his hands away from his face and looked over at him. The dragon had his fingers laced together as his forearms rested on his knees. He had his head bowed down, looking at the rug between his boots.

“I’ve started going by Roronoa again. With the threat of Hydra gone and just myself and Phoenix left, there really isn’t a need to keep using ‘Zoro.’ Some still call me that though.” He shrugged a shoulder, still not meeting Sanji’s gaze.

It was so unlike Zoro and it made Sanji fidget in his seat. What was wrong with the damned dragon? Inhaling deeply, Zoro finally looked up, meeting Sanji’s curious gaze. His eye was calm, the gold almost dull as he spoke. “I know I’m asking a lot; probably more than I have a right to, and I am throwing my own feelings into this as well, but I wouldn’t have come to you if I didn’t need your help. I’m not expecting you to understand, or trust me, or even want to be around me.” Scrunching his nose, Zoro seemed to want to reconsider that last part. “But I am asking for you to once again help me save the world. I know it seems selfish and it is,” the salamander kept on speaking, and it took Sanji a moment to really comprehend this seemingly new growth from Zoro. The dragon just looked tired, as if he didn’t want to fight anymore and it made Sanji yearn for him all over again. The blond felt it rise up his throat and he tried to swallow it back down, but he couldn’t. He wanted to reach out and touch Zoro suddenly, barely holding back as Zoro shifted on the couch and continued. “Look.” Turning to face Sanji fully, the typical annoyed edge crept back into the dragon’s voice. “I need the best for this. I trained you, I know what you can do, and I can only hope you have gotten stronger, despite your—” Zoro paused. “Your girlfriend being clouded.”

“That hurt to say, didn’t it?” Sanji found himself chuckling and actually got Zoro to crack a small smile, the corner of his mouth lifting ever so slightly and pulling at his scars.

“It did actually, yes.” The smile faded and he stood. “I’ll go; I’m sure you don’t want me hanging around. If you change your mind or just—” he paused and gave a half shrug. “Want to talk, just— I don’t know. And go take that kettle off the stove,” he glowered, throwing the kitchen a glare.

“Right.” Sanji jumped up, moving into the kitchen to pull the still screaming kettle off the burner and shut off the stove. “I should really go look for Monet.” Sanji turned and pressed his hands to the counter, leaning all his weight on them. “I’m sure she’s scared and confused. I know I was.”

“Having a dragon break the veil isn’t the wisest thing honestly.” Zoro frowned as he entered the kitchen.

“Really, Zoro?” Rolling his eyes at Zoro, Sanji pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m going to call Agatha. You— you can do whatever. Stay here if you want, I don’t mind. I need to think.” Moving toward the door as he was dialing, Sanji waved his free hand over his shoulder. “I don’t think I have anything you would eat though, if you’re hungry, sorry.”

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” There was a slight pause as Sanji opened the door, pressing the phone to his ear. “Hey, Cook, thanks.”

Sanji gave the dragon a fleeting smile as he stepped out onto his front porch. Agatha’s phone kept ringing as the blond shifted on the step and pulled his cigarettes from his pocket. When the message picked up, he hung up, taking a moment to light a smoke before calling Nero and sitting on the step. He was probably going to regret calling Nero, but with everything going on right now, he had to try.

The fae picked up as if nothing was wrong, which struck Sanji as odd.  _ “What is it Darling, how is Monet doing?” _

“Ugh...” Sanji blinked as he simply stared off across the road. “Have you seen her or Agatha?”

_ “Aren’t they with you? Agatha said she was going to your place to check up on you two. Agatha said she’d sent you home to talk to Monet and that she called crying. What did you do to that poor girl?” _

“Shit, not now, Nero. Look, the situation here is… complicated. When I got here, I had an uninvited guest sitting in the living room talking to her. One thing led to another and we sort of kissed. Well he kissed me actually, but Monet saw the whole thing.”

_ “Him?” _ The fae gasped loudly.  _ “What did you do before you came here, Sanji? And why didn’t you tell us? There is no shame in dating another man, we would have never looked at you any differently than we do now.” _

“No, it’s not that. Shit; why am I even having this conversation with you? I was trying to get away from the magical realm when I found you guys. You knew that.” Sanji pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead, careful to not catch his hair on fire from his cigarette.

“ _ Yes, we did. It was one of the reasons I wanted you to stay, to show you that not all of the magical realm is as horrible as you made your experience seem. So, let me guess, your ex, he’s from the magical world?” _

“Well, he’s not really an ex, but yeah, you could say he’s from the magical realm.” With a sigh, Sanji dropped his arm to his lap, resting his forearm on his leg.

_ “Is he the fire elemental that gave you your runes? _ ” There was a tone to Nero’s voice Sanji didn’t like.

“No,” Sanji scrunched his nose in disgust. He had never thought of Sabo like that before and it was weird thinking about it now. “This isn’t why I called. Have you seen your wife? We have more important things to deal with right now.”

“ _ Have you tried calling her? _ ”

“Of course I did. Why do you think I called you?” Sanji stood up. “Oh, just forget it. I’m going to get Zoro, he can track them, I think.” Sanji frowned as he stomped on his half wasted cigarette.

“ _ Zoro? Is that his name? Strange name. _ ” Sanji could hear the distaste in Nero’s voice. Pulling open his door, Sanji stepped back into his house and wandered into the living room looking for the dragon.

He was sitting on the couch with Morgan, who seemed completely at ease as he lay across Zoro, and Sanji balked as he stopped in the doorway. “Yes, well he’s a strange creature.” Raising an eyebrow, the water newt narrowed his eye slightly and watched as Sanji flung a hand at him, motioning to the cat. “Just how, Zoro?”

_ “You talking to him? He’s  _ there _?” _ Nero gasped again.

“Yes, he’s here, you just don’t kick a dra— aaahh…” The chef stopped, not really sure if it would be a good idea to tell Nero flat out that it was a dragon he was talking about. “Look, just if you see them, call me please. I’m going to look, too. See if she went to any of her normal spots or went to her parents house.”

“ _ Can do, Darling. Tell that ex of yours to just back off. You have Monet now.” _

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Nero.” Rolling his eyes, Sanji hung up and sighed. “Well, Nero hasn’t seen them. Would you be willing to help me?” Shit, he really couldn’t believe he was asking  _ Zoro _ of all people right now for help. Weren’t they just fighting? Like actually fighting? Sanji could never really truly ever stay mad at Zoro for long he was beginning to realize.

Sanji felt that nagging annoyance at him rise up as he watched the other man reach out to pet his cat that hated everyone, including himself. “How did you get your hands on a dire cat?” The shitty newt looked up at Sanji, brow raised in question.

“The pound,” Sanji answered without even thinking. Zoro looked down at the cat and chuckled, before carefully picking him up out of his lap and setting him on the couch and standing.

“I may be willing to help you. It depends on what you need.”

Shit, it was so weird to be around Zoro after so long, yet here he was, perfectly at home in Sanji’s little apartment. It was a little mind-numbing in itself, let alone the asshole willingly wanting to help him. The shitty lizard didn’t even know what it was that the blond wanted, but he seemed happy to help and wasn’t even being a jerk about it for once. Zoro was genuinely interested in helping Sanji if he could.

Sanji raised his hand with the phone in it. “That was Nero, Agatha’s husband. She was the centaur you were so rude to and I work for both of them. Anyway, he hasn’t seen her or Monet and I need to find her.” Dropping his arm, Sanji pocketed his phone. “Would you— could you help me find her? It’s how you found Hydra, right? By smell? And I know it’s how you identified all of us when you were blind.”

“It is.” Zoro nodded. “So what, you think you can just ask things like this of me?” Ah, yes, there it was. There was the shitty salamander that he knew and loved, and just when he’d started to think that maybe Zoro had come to his senses over the last couple years.

“Don’t be a fucking jerk, Zoro. You owe me this one. Coming into my life unexpectedly and destroying it. Again.” Sanji scoffed, hearing the annoyance in his own tone.

“Listen to you,” the dragon began to growl, but the chef cut him off.

“Don’t fucking start with me. This is all your fault anyway, coming here and destroying the life I had built.” Sanji threw the dragon a glare, but the other man simply shrugged like what he’d done was no big deal. “Look, I don’t know how you do it. Do you need something of hers? Like her jacket or something?”

Zoro snorted and growled, his disgust clear. “This whole place reeks of her scent and I can smell it on you. I don’t need anything, it’s already burned into my muzzle.”

“Don’t be an asshole.” Sanji pointed at him, even as the other man crossed his arms and glared at him. “I’m being serious. Whether she wants anything to do with me or not; I have to know she’s okay at least.”

“She’s fine. You saw her. Once she gets over realizing she’s been lied to her whole life, I’m sure she will be just fine.” Zoro stepped into the kitchen as Sanji threw another glare at him.

“How can you honestly stand here in my kitchen and say that? This is all your fault! If you had just left me alone.”

“I couldn’t do that and you know it.” The salamander bared his teeth at Sanji, his eye starting to glow slightly in his irritation. “Why is a clouded so important to you anyway?”

Sanji turned to face him, anger in his tone. He just didn’t understand this guy sometimes. “When was the last time you were even in a fucking relationship, Zoro? Plus, why wouldn’t I want to be with someone who was clouded. The whole point of leaving the Manor was to get away from this shit. To live a  _ normal _ life! Are you saying that— ”

“Like I would ever mate with a clouded. They are—” Something seemed to click in Zoro’s mind, and his gaze faltered briefly before he snapped his jaw shut, looking away.

Sanji crossed his arms as he watched the dragon for a moment. Tapping his fingers on his arm, the chef raised a brow. “Well?”

“I haven’t. I wouldn’t.” The drake’s tone was quiet as he shrugged and scrunched his nose. “Besides, they smell weird.”

“Ugh.” Throwing his hands in the air, Sanji turned for the door. “Just, will you help me?”

“Will you come with me if she doesn’t want to see you,” Zoro asked honestly as the two made their way back to the front door. Sanji looked over his shoulder to the dragon as he followed him. Zoro seemed frustrated, as if he really didn’t want to be doing any of this right now. The chef was sure he didn’t. He knew he wouldn’t want to be out looking for Zoro’s girlfriend if the situation was reversed. Of course, had the situation been reversed, they may not have even been in this situation.

Sanji grabbed his jacket and slipped his feet into his shoes with a sigh. “I don’t know, Zoro, one thing at a time, please. Can we just find my girlfriend first?”

Yeah, okay, Cook.” The dragon nodded, quietly slipping out the door behind him. “I can do that.”


	5. Book One: Pumice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is more of the old work before I dropped it. I wanted to leave it as close to it's original format as I could, but there's only a couple more of the old chapters before we start getting into the new content that I have been working on recently.

Sanji stared at his ceiling. Once again, he couldn’t sleep, despite pretty much having been up for twenty-four hours at this point. At this time yesterday he was simply having nightmares, not that those were what he wanted to be having, but he could deal with them. Now the object of those nightmares was asleep on his couch, snoring, half naked and cuddled up with his stupid cat. He hated Morgan, too.

Sanji rolled over with a sigh, stretching his arm out onto the empty side of the bed. He knew he should have been more upset about everything that had happened, but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. Monet had refused to speak to him, which wasn’t surprising at all, and her father had politely informed him to not come back. Sanji could understand that from his point of view. If his daughter had shown up on his front porch in tears because of her boyfriend, he would have tracked his stupid ass down. Well, ex boyfriend, Sanji guessed.

Closing his eyes, Sanji willed his head to clear. Today had been a fuck show if he’d ever been in one. He was so mentally drained right now it wasn’t even funny. Emotionally, he was stressed and he felt that he should have been more so, but he wasn’t. Part of him was... okay that he and Monet were no longer together. It had been great at first, yeah, but after a while it became so clear to Sanji that she was simply filling a void, that he was almost relieved things went down the way they did with her. At least now he wouldn’t have to actually explain to her that he didn’t love her; was in love with someone else.

Zoro was another problem altogether. That fucking bastard had no right to barge back into his life and do what he did. Sanji found himself once more pining over the dragon and all he’d needed to do was walk through his front door. The fact that he, Zoro, no  _ Roronoa _ , had kissed him, expressively admitting his feelings for Sanji hadn’t helped the matter at all.

In fact, if anything, it just made everything more complicated. The blond was pissed off about the entire encounter, still seething in anger at the dragon and even more confused than before on how to handle him. Unrequited feelings he could swallow down while facing Zoro was one thing, but this, knowing that Zoro actually felt the same way— Fuck, Sanji was too tired for this shit right now. Groaning, Sanji raised his hands to scrub at his face. The hell was wrong with him? He had it all backwards. He should be caring more about trying to salvage his relationship with Monet and less about shitty water newts.

Inhaling, Sanji held his breath, staring into the darkness. He could hear Zoro snoring on the couch and the sound did something to him. A flutter twisted in his gut, bringing back the warm afternoons where they would sit by Zoro’s pool while Sanji worked on prep for the next meal. Those had been a gruelling few months if he thought back on it. Constantly on the move, if not cooking, then training, first in just his chakras, then his fire, along with his speed and agility.

Sanji owed the dragon a hell of a lot in that aspect and he knew those were the months he truly fell for him. Yeah, he’d been attracted to the dragon’s human form ever since Robin had so cryptically tried to tell him how to break the veil on his own, but those few months; those months that he spent so much time with the ageless being, those were the months Sanji knew he fell in love with his personality.

“And what a shitty personality it is!” Throwing his arms to his sides, they landed against his blanket with a muffled  _ thwhomp.  _ Sanji huffed, rolling his eyes to the side and sticking his lip out in a pout. This entire thing was fucked up. He was fucked up, and this wasn’t the first time he’d had this conversation with himself. Only... this time.

Sitting up, Sanji flung the covers off himself and stood, pulling his sleep pants back to where they belonged on his hips. He had no idea what he was doing, but he was gonna do something. Stretching, arms arching up over his head, the blond dropped them back to his sides as he stepped into the living room.

Carefully, he skirted around the couch, Morgan waking up to look at him as he entered the kitchen. The chef went through the motions: got his tea mug, tea bag, filled the kettle and turned to the stove. There he paused, hand halfway to the burner knob when he realized, he didn’t have to. The other person in the house wouldn’t have cared less if he used to abilities, in fact they actually  _ encouraged _ it.

With a quiet chuckle, Sanji filled his cup and wrapped both hands around it, staring off at a spot on the floor as he leaned against the counter and warmed his tea. Was this what it was like to be in a situation without a clouded around? He’d really never thought of using his abilities day to day at the Manor, but since being at the bed and breakfast, he’d done so more.

Only, even there it was hard, half the staff was clouded and most of the guests were, too. He couldn’t just relight or reheat things at a touch. He had to do it properly. Raising his mug to his lips, Sanji blew on the liquid out of habit and took a sip. Was this what Zoro had been trying to explain to him earlier? Was this the life that the dragon had wanted to show him?

After the conversation with Monet’s father, where he had informed Sanji not to bother his daughter again, the two had returned home. Sanji had called Agatha to make sure she was okay, but the centaur had been very short with him and told him she needed some time to think and would see him in the morning.

The evening had been quiet at first, Zoro and Sanji falling easily into old habits as Sanji managed to make some semblance of food out of the things in the fridge. There wasn’t a lot as he and Monet usually ate at the bed and breakfast, but there was enough for them to eat something hot. The entire time Sanji cooked, Zoro was in the kitchen with him, arms crossed and glaring at him, trying to get him to use his fire and convince him that he needed to go back with him to fight the shadows.

While the useless reptile made some good points, as much as Sanji was loathe to admit them, he’d done nothing but try to cause more trouble. He kept on about how Sanji just needed to leave this place and return to the Manor with him, how he had more important things to do with his life than live it out here in some shitty little hole in the wall hotel. Sanji tried his best to ignore the comments and focus on making them dinner, but it proved to be difficult and he’d finally snapped, slamming a pan onto the stove and yelling at Zoro to just shut the fuck up.

Ironically, the drake had stayed well away from the topics that had caused trouble earlier that day. He didn’t mention a possible relationship between them again, nor did he mention Monet and that whole mess. Although, he did scowl and growl when Sanji had finally brought up Monet as they ate, wondering if it would be the right thing to do to leave and let the poor girl carry on with her life. She had the ties here, not him, and it wouldn’t be hard for Sanji to move once more. Zoro had been all for that idea, perking up considerably and all but high tailing it for the door with a exclamation of “let’s go then.”

“I thought I heard you.”

Sanji jumped, spinning to face the dragon with wide eyes as he set his cup on the counter. He didn’t say anything, just watched as Zoro scratched behind his ear, letting his eye slide shut again. The dragon hummed lowly to himself before dropping his arm and shaking his head as he opened his eye, his earrings clinking softly.

In the low light of the bulb over the stove, Zoro’s eye gleamed, reflecting the light like gold actually would. “Did I wake you,” Sanji asked quietly. “I needed to get up for work.” It wasn’t a total lie. He would have normally had to get up soon anyway.

“Naw.” Shaking his head, the dragon’s earrings caught the light from the stove, flashing as they swayed. “Your dire cat did. He’s a feisty one.”

“Yes,” Sanji mused, picking his teacup back up. “It’s why I got him.”

“I like him.” Looking back over his shoulder into the living room, the dragon shrugged and scratched at his bare chest. Sanji raised his mug to his lips as he let his eyes trail over the tanned skin. Zoro hadn’t changed at all in some respects and the blond found himself actually debating with himself on whether or not getting involved with Zoro was a good idea.

Slamming his mug down, he scoffed. “I need to get ready for work.”

“No need to be pissy, Cook, damn.”

Sanji could feel the dragon’s eye on him as Sanji walked around the island and back into the living room and his room. The fuck with this. He just needed to get to work so he could really clear his head and argue with fucking Groggle all day. That made Sanji pause as he reached for his dresser drawers. Had the highlight of his days really become arguing with a three foot tall troll he could probably kick across the kitchen? “The hell am I doing with my life,” Sanji muttered under his breath, tugging the drawer open and pulling out a shirt.

“Not what you should be.” Sanji snapped his head up to see Zoro leaning against his door frame with his arms crossed. He didn’t miss the way the dragon’s gaze seemed to trail over him, the typical smirk of his plastered on his stupid face. “I keep telling you that.”

“Get out of my room, Zoro, I need to get ready for work.”

“I’m not stopping you.” Shitty bastard. Clicking his tongue, Sanji rolled his eyes and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He could hear the dragon bark out a laugh and it made Sanji want to kick him; hard, in the fucking face.

Sanji moved to the sink, gripping the edges tightly as he glared at himself in the mirror. He looked like shit, but that was to be expected and he gave a defeated sigh as he reached for his toothbrush. Today was going to be a long day and on top of it all, he now had to deal with Zoro. Despite it all though, it didn’t take him long to get ready for the day and he opened the bathroom door to find Zoro lounging on his bed, arms crossed behind his head with his eye closed. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Zoro cracked his eye, but otherwise didn’t move. “Taking a nap, what’s it look like? It’s not like the sun’s up yet.”

Grabbing his wallet off the small table, Sanji stuffed it in his back pocket. “You are un-fucking-believable. Get off my bed and get the hell out of my room. I need to go to work now. So,” he paused, flinging a hand into the air. “Go do something.”

“I am doing something, Cook.” The bastard closed his eye again and shifted his shoulders slightly to get comfortable. Sanji rolled his eyes and inhaled to try and calm himself. If he didn’t, he was going to kick a dragon off his bed and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“I know what you’re doing,” Sanji started, rubbing at his temples. He was fairly certain that stupid bastard was scent marking his side of the fucking bed. Like seriously, how childish could one be?

“Oi, Cook.” Sitting up suddenly and ignoring the blond, the drake stood and tipped his head slightly to the side. “I want you to think about what I said last night.”

“You spewed a lot of crap last night,” Sanji shot back, turning and walking out of the room. He made his way through the house, pausing at the door to slip into his shoes. He could hear Zoro’s bare feet smack on the kitchen tiles behind him.

“I mean about your purpose. Why it was you that came to the Manor in the first place. I still don’t know why, but this is what you are meant to be doing.” There was a seriousness to the salamander’s tone that made Sanji pause in reaching for his coat.

“I’m supposed to be working at the bed and breakfast? Last night you said I wasn’t.”

“No, you’re not. I meant this, being in this world, wielding magicks and helping me.”

Shrugging on his coat, Sanji looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the other man. “You sure this just isn’t another one of your ploys to get me to go with you?”

“This time? No. I meant what I said last night and I mean it now. Sometimes you just have to trust my intuition. I can’t even explain it, but I knew back when this all started: you are supposed to be at the Manor.”

“Whatever, Zoro, I have to go.” Opening the door, Sanji closed it behind him and sighed as he dug out a cigarette. It was chilly this morning, not overly, but the blond still hunched his shoulders a little anyway.

Taking a drag, feeling the nicotine flood his system, Sanji already felt a little better. He didn’t know what was going to be waiting for him at work and he was a little worried given yesterday. Zoro’s mention of him wasting his life here didn’t help either. What could the shitty lizard possibly know about his life that Sanji didn’t?

It was weird to walk down the sidewalk without Monet chattering at his side and Sanji furrowed his brows as he took another drag off his cigarette. Again, though, despite how Sanji knew he should have felt at this breakup, he simply felt a loss at the change in routine. That made him frown as the bed and breakfast came into view. How could one possibly be more upset over a change in routine than losing a partner you’d been with for over a year? Had Monet really meant that little to him?

Scoffing, Sanji flicked his cigarette butt into the road and blew a stream of smoke into the dawn light before walking across the parking lot to the front door. There were several cars which meant they were probably going to have a busy breakfast. Pushing through the front door, the little bell rang and Sanji slipped off his coat to hang by the door. “You have some serious explaining to do. Monet called out of work this morning. She said she didn’t want to see you; that’s where I will start.” Nero’s tone was harsh, even angry and rightly so.

With a deep breath, Sanji turned to face his boss. “Yeah, I know. About all of it. Can we get through breakfast? It’s complicated, Nero.”

“Agatha said you were in a fight.” His white eyes flashed as he crossed his arms from behind the front desk. The fae normally didn’t get angry for any reason, always happy and bubbly, but today his demeanor made a shiver run down Sanji’s spine. He didn’t want to see him if he was truly upset.

“I was,” he replied, not really willing to give details right now. “Please, Nero, later.”

“Agatha is very upset with you and so I am. I don’t think you realize what you did by getting into that fight in front of Monet. And you revealed our world to her.”

“I know exactly what I did and I know exactly who I was fighting with,” Sanji countered, slamming a hand against the kitchen door and growling under his breath. Who did they think they were to lecture him on who he should fight with? They didn’t know the history he had with Zoro. They didn’t know the trauma at having the veil broken by him nor did they have to deal with his shitty attitude everyday for months like he had. Neither of them had to go through the training or get his mark against his will. He wasn’t born into the realm of magicks and his first real taste of it was at the hands of a creature that was myth and legend. And they didn’t know how horrible of an experience his time at the Manor truly had been.

That made him pause as he met Agatha’s eyes from where she stood by the sink. They didn’t know his and Zoro’s past because he’d never told them. No wonder they were upset with him. Sanji looked away, moving to grab an apron and start his day. “Morning,” he mumbled, slipping the loop over his head and reaching back to tie the strings at his waist.

Agatha stomped a foot and swished her tail, but didn’t answer him.


	6. Book One: Pumice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty sure this is the last of the old content. Like I said, I knew I had written several chapters ahead, but never posted them.
> 
> I'm also hoping to try and set up a posting schedule for this and North, both of them being once a month. I would like to finish these two stories and get them to everyone, but as I have said numerous times, with school, writing fanfic is hard. I have, however, written ahead a little ways on both projects, and will be able to post for a while consistently.

Breakfast ran its course and it was tense and quiet during the entire time. Agatha and Sanji only spoke if it was really needed, but it wasn’t a lot since the two had been able to communicate for a while now without words.

The moment everything was cleaned, the door slammed open with a very angry looking Nero storming into the kitchen. “Let’s hear it, Sanji,” he all but snarled out, making the blond set his knife down slowly from his prep work. Crossing his arms, Nero glared at him, his white eyes flashing, and Sanji had to fight to keep from taking a step back. Fae were terrifying when pissed off. “Did you really attack someone with your abilities in front of Monet,” Nero went on, his anger rising with each word that was spoken. “Agatha said whatever you were fighting was very powerful and you just blindly went after it? Without even thinking?”

“Now hang on,” Sanji started defensively.

“No, you listen,” Nero snapped, interrupting him as his hands balled into fists at his sides. “There is a balance and a way of things and you just don’t go and do things like that! And in front of a clouded! We try very hard to not expose ourselves and you do so without a care in the world! That poor girl! You must have terrified her! No wonder she didn’t want to come to work today!”

“Nero,” Agatha warned from where she stood. “Be careful.”

Sanji looked over to the centaur, but her gaze was locked on her husband. “Nero, let me explain.” Sanji looked over to Groggle who was still happily ignoring them all and eating the leftovers out of the trays from breakfast. With a sigh, Sanji leaned against the table and ran a hand through his hair. “Agatha, you, too. It’s complicated.”

“How is you breaking the veil in front of your girlfriend complicated,” the fae all but screamed at him. His eyes seemed to glaze over and he began to slowly raise one arm, fingers splayed. Behind him the pipes groaned and shook violently against the wall. Agatha moved to Nero’s side, grabbing him by the shoulder. Nero blinked and shook his head, looking over at her with a pained look in his eyes. “Sorry,” he muttered to her.

“You can’t lose control in here,” Agatha snapped, flicking her eyes to Sanji. “Why don’t we move outside, take a little break.”

“Yes, dear, that sounds perfect.” Nero leaned over and pecked his wife on the cheek before throwing Sanji an angry glare. “I suggest the poolside.”

“Nero,” Agatha growled at him.

“I won’t hurt him, don’t worry. Besides if what you said was true, Sanji should already know how to defend himself against me.” Turning on his heel, Nero left the kitchen, banging through the door, most likely toward the pool on the far side of the building.

Sanji furrowed his brow, looking at Agatha who only shook her head with a sigh. What had Nero meant by that? The logical conclusion he came to pretty quickly was that Nero was a water fae. He’d never seen him use his abilities before, but with the way the pipes rattled when he got upset, that made the most sense.

Sanji and Agatha followed quietly and the blond hesitantly took a seat at the small table near Nero while he crossed his arms in one of the loungers. The centaur moved to stand beside her husband, resting her hands on the back of his chair. “Why don’t you start at the beginning. You know him, don’t you? Whoever it was you were fighting. I could tell from your conversation.” Agatha was upset as well, but calmer. She always had seemed to be the more logical of the two of them. “Is he why you don’t like to talk about what happened before you got here?”

“That’s part of it.” Sanji shrugged a shoulder, looking off to the still waters of the pool. Zoro would never swim in there, the chlorine would drive him nuts. Mentally rolling his eyes at himself, Sanji inhaled deeply. “Okay, let me tell you what happened.”

“Yes, I think some details are now very overdue,” Nero snapped angrily, tapping his fingers against his arm. The still waters of the pool began to ripple, giving Sanji his answer. Nero did indeed seem to be some type of water fae. Just great.

Sanji cleared his throat and licked his lip, meeting the fae’s white eyes. He seemed to be more upset over this than Agatha was. Nero had always been volatile, as Sanji had found most fae to be. “It started when I found a job opening in the paper for a private chef at an island Manor house. So I applied and I got the job. At first I didn’t think anything of it, the place was old and weird, with several even weirder people, but the weirdest of them all had to be this blind jerk. He was covered in scars and just generally rude and mean. I was introduced to him as Zoro and life carried on. Little things didn’t add up, though. I put a lock on the basement door that had been clawed off and I got yelled at,” Sanji went on, thinking back to when Franky had given him shit about locking the door. Made sense now. “Everyone kept asking if I could see people there for who they really were and when ever I asked questions I got cryptic answers in return. Then, I managed to get into the basement.”

“The basement that you locked,” Agatha asked, raising a brow at him.

“It was a wine cellar, I had access to most of it. But there was one room that was always locked, yet Zoro was able to get in and out of it. I went down there and it was open, so I went in to explore and try to get answers on my own. What I found in the wine cellar was Zoro’s den and that’s how I had the veil broken for me. The fucking bastard scared the hell out of me and stepped on me. Ask him, he will tell you.”

“You said Zoro was your ex boyfriend.” Nero raised an eyebrow at him, clearly thinking that Sanji was lying or at least partly making up his story. If anything, Sanji was leaving out several important details.

“No,” Sanji dragged the word out slightly as he spoke. “You said Zoro was my ex.” Sanji flung a hand into the air in the direction of his apartment. “Anyway, so once we got through the veil shit and things calmed down from that, I was once again thrown into a whirlwind of things. Zoro had me training with him daily on my chakra usage and eventually a fire elemental gave me the spell to use his fire with my own natural abilities. I didn’t understand at the time and it was extremely traumatic. They didn’t tell me, just pinned me down and fucking started burning letters into my arm!” Raising his arm, Sanji pulled back his sleeve, baring his teeth as he scoffed at the mark forever burned into his arm under the black ink of his tattoo. “They kept me in the dark a lot of the time. I get it was probably for my safety as I learned my way around the magickal world, but it really wasn’t appreciated.” Sanji took a deep breath and sighed. “All that training I had, all the secrets and everything ended up leading to this huge battle. I was fighting creatures I didn’t even know existed. I just couldn’t take it anymore and so I left, for good.”

Sanji leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he tipped his head back toward the sky. “It was too much, too fast. In a matter of months I went from being a clouded to fighting a battle against a huge evil force and hoards of creatures I didn’t even know the names of to save the world from a threat I had never heard about before.”

“I can see why you would have fled.” Agatha spoke quietly, frowning at Sanji as she did so. “That makes more sense as to why you would attack him, but there is more to it than that, isn’t there? When Monet called me, she was hysterical, yes, but she said you kissed him.”

“Well, he kissed me, but yes, there was more to it. And that was another of the reasons I left the Manor. I had fallen for Zoro while I was there and not only did he not feel the same way, he treated me like I was servant in the Manor, not an equal or even a student, which is what I really was.”

“You still love him, don’t you,” Agatha asked, giving him a slightly pained look when Sanji met her eyes. “Oh, hun, that’s what’s been on your mind this entire time, hasn’t it? That’s why this entire thing with Monet has been eating at you?”

“So that’s it?” Nero jumped from his lounger before Sanji could answer, interrupting and turning on his wife. His voice was shaking with a barely controlled rage. From the corner of his eye, Sanji could see the water of the pool start to move more. “He gets a free pass simply because he’s in love? He attacks some powerful creature, whose power we don’t know mind you, and breaks the veil for Monet and you’re just gonna let it go!”

“In my defense, he kind of had it coming.”

“You stay out of this!” Nero whipped around to snap at Sanji before returning to Agatha. “I can’t believe you are going to stand here and just let Sanji get away with this kind of blatant disregard for our rules and lives, Agatha!”

“He and this Zoro clearly have a personal history that we didn’t know about before, Nero. I’m not saying what Sanji did to Monet was right, or even fair, but it makes sense, especially if he just showed up at their place out of the blue.” Crossing her arms, she glanced over at the pool where tiny waves were beginning to break against the far side of the wall. “You should try and calm down, please, before you do something to expose your abilities yourself.”

“No! Something needs to be done about this, Agatha! As I said,” Nero spun back to face Sanji. “He put Monet in danger, exposed her to our world unwillingly and unknowingly because he’s unable to control himself.”

“That’s not fair. Your wife was there, too, I might add!” Sanji stood, flinging an arm into the air. “What would you have had me do, Nero? Just let Zoro attack everyone? Seriously, what is with you? Up until this morning we have always gotten along!”

“Fae are rather judgemental. They were one of the first races granted elemental powers after the elementals themselves. They are very old.” Zoro’s deep tone cut through the air and all three turned to the edge of the pool where he was standing with arms crossed. He looked slightly bored, as if he’d actually been standing there listening in on their conversation. Knowing Zoro, that’s probably exactly what he did.

“It’s you!” Agatha gasped, stepping back, her hooves clacking on the cement. “How did you find us?”

Zoro gave a feral grin and tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell the cook, besides, it’s not hard to figure this place out.”

“You need to leave!” Nero spoke up, stepping up next to Sanji. The water of the pool was still churning, splashing against the side of the walls and up onto the cement. “You’re part of the problem here.”

Zoro snorted back a laugh. “I am not leaving until he comes with me.” The dragon flung an arm out at Sanji, before recrossing his arms. “What are you going to do, fae? Attack? After your little rant about not exposing our world?”

“Zoro, don’t bait him into a fight. Leave them out of this,” Sanji growled, moving toward him, surprised when Nero grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. “Nero, just let me handle him.”

“Yes, listen to him.” That shitty salamander tipped his head forward and grinned. Sanji could tell he was looking for another fight. “Besides, I’m only going to ask you once to stay out of my affairs. I came for the cook and this is between us. What I do doesn’t concern you, fae.”

“I’m still very upset at you about Monet,” Nero glanced over at Sanji, his eyes narrowed. The water in the pool was starting to churn harder, reflecting Nero’s anger. “But if this man really is someone you want to get away from, than I can’t just stand by either.”

“Honestly.” The dragon pinched at the bridge of his nose with one hand, flicking the other at the pool. The water calmed right down, stilling to glass perfection. “You can’t fight me. You’re strong, I can feel it, but you are still no match for me. Cook,” turning his attention to Sanji, the drake smirked. “What you got to eat around here? I’m hungry.”

Sanji smacked a hand against his forehead, he couldn’t help it. Zoro’s shift in conversation and his simple dismissal of Nero was astounding. It was always amazing to see what it was the man found to be important. Next to him, the fae almost choked, for sure not realizing the level of power Zoro commanded. Of course, he also didn’t seem to realize or understand that the dragon was the controller of the very element in question.

His shock didn’t last long before Nero was raising an arm into the air and the water in the pool started moving again. The dragon simply raised an eyebrow at the scene. “We are of the same element, a fight between us is pointless.” Despite what he was saying, Sanji saw Zoro shift his weight slightly, fingers flexing at his side. The dragon was ready to attack if the need arose, Sanji was sure of it. A growl rumbled deep in his throat. “And you know it, fae.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Sanji pushed passed Nero and pointed at Zoro. “Just stop. You’re being an asshole and that’s not fair. You can’t just come over here and get Nero to fight you. You know damned well it wouldn’t be much of a fight. What the hell is wrong with you?” He really didn’t know what Zoro thought he could gain from any of this. Starting a fight with Nero and Agatha wasn’t going to accomplish anything.

“I was bored. And hungry.” The dragon shrugged easily.

“Yeah, I got that,” Sanji snapped sarcastically. “You’re an adult, can’t you make your own food?”

“Do you have any idea how far from the nearest ocean we are?” Zoro threw a hand into the air. “And I already told you I wasn’t leaving until you came with me. I’m not going over that again. Can’t you just make me something?”

“Yes, Zoro, because we just happen to keep raw fish in the fucking walk-in for when—” Sanji bit his tongue and sighed. “Fucking hell. If I feed you, will you fucking leave me alone until I get home later? I told you I need to try and figure shit out with Monet.”

“Oh, still on that, are we? She doesn’t want to see you. Nice job, by the way, I don’t think I could have broken the veil any better myself. Your fighting skills have really improved, too, like I said.”

“Now is  _ not _ the time, you shitty lizard,” Sanji barked, balling both hands into fists. “Why can’t you ever just pay attention to the situation at hand?”

“Because it’s all trivial, Cook.” Clicking his tongue, Zoro rolled his eye. “When you have seen what I have, you learn that it won’t matter after a time. And I am paying attention to the situation at hand. You know, the big one that requires your abilities and mine and leaving here and going back to the Manor. In three weeks time, your clouded won’t even matter to you anymore.”

“Sanji said he didn’t want to go with you.” Nero appeared at Sanji side, his tone short as he squared thin shoulders. “I think it is time for you to leave.” Agatha silently came up on Sanji’s other side, stomping a back foot as she did.

The gold of his eye flashed and began to glow as Zoro narrowed it at the two of them. Sanji could see the irritation rise in Zoro as he stood there across the pool from them. He shifted his entire posture, shoulders hunching forward slightly as he growled low in his throat. “I think,” he started, taking a breath to continue.

Sanji jumped in at that point, sputtering over his words slightly as he did so. “Don’t get reckless, you fucking bastard. You fucking transform out here and who knows what type of damage you could do. Just calm down.”

The dragon snarled, baring his teeth and Sanji could see the sharp canines as he actually hissed at Nero and Agatha. “You certainly picked a great set of creatures to be around. Centaur, they have never listened to the laws of the lands, caravanning around; fucking nomadic tribes. The world can’t handle that anymore.” Zoro flung a hand at Agatha as he began to pace slightly on the far side of the pool. Sanji could read the signs, could see just how upset Zoro was at this conversation. It was almost as if everyone were stalling him and his need to leave. Not that they really were, he was just being impatient and stubborn. The shitty newt could leave whenever he wanted, the fact that he chose to stay simply for Sanji…

Sanji jerked at the realization that Zoro simply  _ was _ staying for his sake as the dragon continued to rant on. “Fae and their attitudes, they think they are better than everyone because they were granted elemental powers. The first of the born races to receive the gift of the dragons. I didn’t even want to give them to you, but that would have upset the balance. Ungrateful snobs, that’s what they are.” As he spoke, Zoro’s eye began to glow brightly and he flexed his hands at his sides. Stopping, he turned to face them, squaring his shoulders and rising to his full height to look down his nose at them all. His glowing eye cast weird shadows across his scars in the morning sun. “This conversation is over. You will not get in my way. I have a job to do and I will not be kept idly waiting while you think you can speak to me the way you have been.”

“Zoro, shut up,” Sanji practically yelled at him, but the dragon ignored him. The blond could see him twitching his tail angrily in his mind’s eye, claws digging up the cement under his feet. The water in the pool began to bubble erratically, like boiling water on a stove. The chef recognized it as the start of the dragon’s attempt to transform where they stood.

Without thinking, Sanji darted toward the dragon, using his chakras to push into the air, jumping off the ground over the pool as he raised his knee to kick at Zoro’s side. He didn’t think he’d connect, but Sanji heard the gasp Zoro made as his knee hit bone. There was a solid thump from where Sanji connected with Zoro’s ribs and a low growl as a hand fisted into his shirt.

Next thing Sanji knew, he was pinned to the ground, glaring defiantly up at the glowing eye of the dragon. Zoro was panting as he tried to catch his breath, eye swirling with rage as his tail swished over his head.  _ Fuck.  _ “The fuck is wrong with you, Cook,” Zoro growled angrily as black claws ripped through Sanji’s shirt before he let go and the dragon stood. As he pulled away, the blond could see the green scales littering his cheeks and trailing down his neck and under his shirt.

“Zoro,” Sanji breathed out, eyes moving up to his horns that peeked up from his hair. The dragon’s tail twitched angrily at his feet, clawed toes digging slightly into the cement as the green tuft of his tail swept the ground.

Looking down at him, the drake grunted at Sanji. “That fucking hurt. Get up off the ground.”

Sanji climbed back to his feet, lost for words. He’d been trying to stop this very thing from happening and even though it had, he couldn’t even bring himself to yell at the bastard. Zoro was fucking gorgeous in his hybrid form and it was taking all Sanji had to simply not stare at him, let alone actually think of something to yell at him. The sun shone off the small scales that littered his face as he narrowed his eye at Sanji and his tail curled around his feet. Crossing his arms, Zoro tipped his head slightly as he waited for an answer, but Sanji’s attention was on his arms and the way the green scales thinned out as they ran up the thick muscles.

“What the fuck?” Agatha swearing caused Sanji to snap his head over to her, having completely forgotten they were there. He licked his lip and swallowed as Zoro uncrossed his arms and turned to face them fully. The centaur stepped back a few paces, hooves sounding loudly on the cement as she did so.

It was Nero, though, that drew Sanji’s attention. The fae’s eyes were wide and his mouth open as he simply stared at Zoro for a moment. Then, ever so slowly, he fell to one knee, resting a hand on the cement and bowing his head. “We thought,” he started, keeping his eyes on the ground. The dragon tipped his head down to glare at Nero, a low growl deep in his throat. “I thought,” the fae went on. “That you were dead. All this time, you have been alive… Roronoa.”


	7. Book One: Pumice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels shorter than others, but when I go back to edit it, I can't figure out where to add anything, so it is what it is. Enjoy.

Sanji swallowed as he watched the affair. He’d never seen Nero act like this before. It was so unlike the fae, but then again, being in the presence of one of the elemental creators would make one do strange things, he supposed. Raising an eyebrow, Sanji looked over to Zoro as he growled, before sighing and running a hand through his hair, catching his fingers on a horn. “Get up, fae.”

Nero’s eyes lifted from the ground slowly, rising to meet Sanji’s before moving to Zoro. Sanji couldn’t read the expression on his boss’s face, but from the way his eyebrows lowered, it couldn’t have been good. He could, however, feel Zoro’s energy and the dragon was pretty pissed off. His stance was defensive as his tail swished angrily behind him and there was a tension in his neck from how his jaw was set. His head was still tipped forward slightly, lip curled in a snarl as sharp fangs bit into his bottom lip.

Slowly, Nero stood and his eyes moved to meet Sanji’s again from across the pool. There was a new emotion in those white eyes as well as the anger, but Sanji had no idea what it was. “You didn’t mention that you spoke of Roronoa.” Nero’s voice was strained, yet calm, void of all emotion. “That you ran from him.”

“I told you it was complicated and I didn’t want to talk about it,” Sanji mumbled, crossing his arms, but for whatever reason he didn’t leave Zoro’s side. He couldn’t explain it to even himself, but he stood where he had gotten up off the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the dragon square his shoulders as he kept his gaze locked on Nero.

Turning, Nero held his hand out to Agatha and stepped back to her side. She gave him a curious look as she took his hand. Shaking his head, Nero took a deep breath, meeting Sanji’s eyes again. “Sanji,” Nero started, his voice firm and final. Next to Sanji, Zoro tensed, his aura growing angrier by the second. Sanji felt Zoro’s tail brush against the back of his legs and he chanced a glance over at the newt before meeting his boss’s eyes. Nero took a deep breath. “You’re fired.”

“What?” Both Sanji and Agatha gasped in shock at the same time. She shifted on her feet, hooves clacking loudly on the cement. “Nero, you can’t!”

“What the hell for,” Sanji snapped at Nero, balling his hands into fists at his sides.

“Perfect,” Zoro purred happily, taking now to shift back to his human form. He clapped a hand down on Sanji’s shoulder, laughing. “Well, that solves that problem, right, Cook?”

“Get off!” Shrugging his shoulder to dislodge the bastard, Sanji took a couple steps closer to Nero around the edge of the pool. Agatha had let go of his hand and was simply gawking at Nero with the same disbelief as Sanji. “Why, Nero?”

Nero shook his head, taking a step back away from Sanji. “The dragons are cursed. I can’t let their misfortune fall here. I won’t let it destroy the life I have built anymore than it already has. Your being involved with Roronoa, in any sense of the word, is dangerous. I can’t let your presence endanger my home, Sanji.”

“What are you talking about?” Sanji looked over his shoulder to Zoro, who had his arms crossed again, watching the conversation through a narrowed eye. “He’s not cursed at all.”

“But he is,” Nero breathed out. “Entire villages have fallen to their demise because of them. Families wiped out for their benefit.”

Sanji looked the dragon up and down for a moment as he thought about what his boss said. Yeah, the guy was a bit of a jerk, but all he had ever seen the shitty bastard try to do was save people. When Usopp had spoken about his village being destroyed he hadn’t blamed Zoro. In fact, Usopp had praised the dragon for all that he had tried to do. The drake growled low, but held his tongue as he kept his gaze locked onto the fae. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Nero.” Sanji spoke quietly, not entirely sure why he was now defending the asshole behind him.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true, he knew why. Even if he didn’t want to go with Zoro, even if he wanted nothing to do with the shitty water lizard, he wasn’t going to let lies and rumors be spread about him. And that’s all this was: a lie spread by the peoples who had never gotten a chance to know the dragon like Sanji had.

That made Sanji pause as he turned back to Agatha and Nero, the closest thing he’d had to family since leaving the Manor. They were of the peoples, the common everyday magickal folk who knew nothing of what really went on with the dragons. People who knew nothing of the struggles that Zoro had gone through after the death of one brother and the downfall of a second. They hadn’t seen him laugh at stupid jokes, lounge in the sun by his pool or listen to him talk fondly of ancient times past. Neither knew nothing of how gentle he could be or what raw power he held in his body. They didn’t know the person that Zoro was. That made Sanji stop as he met Agatha’s eyes. They knew the beast, the dragon, the legendary Master of an element and that made Nero’s words make so much sense to him. “You’re wrong,” Sanji started, frowning at them both.

“Sanji.” There was a pained tone to Agatha’s voice. “Open your eyes, hun. Look at what he’s done to you specifically. Tell me he hasn’t destroyed your life, even before you came here.”

Sanji looked over to Zoro, who was standing calmly next to him. How could they think so little of such a creature? Sure, Sanji didn’t always get along with him and right now one of the last people he really wanted to see was the shitty salamander, but that was because he had history with him. He knew Zoro. They didn’t. They had lies and rumors and stories that created this false image of the beast standing beside him. They had passed a judgement where they had no right to do so.

Unconsciously, Sanji took a step back closer to the dragon and he could feel Zoro’s gaze move from the others to Sanji’s shoulders. Sure, Zoro was a lot of things, but nothing that they made him sound like. “You’re wrong,” Sanji repeated, shaking his head. Suddenly, he really wanted a cigarette and bit at his lip to try to curb the craving.

Agatha stomped her foot. “Sanji, hun, listen to us. The dragons abandoned the peoples a long time ago—”

“We didn’t abandon anyone,” Zoro snarled, growling. “You turned your backs on us.”

Agatha shook her head, taking a deep breath before continuing. “He’s lying. We asked for their help because the lands were beginning to fall apart and they vanished, for centuries. When they did return to the world, they did nothing but fight one another, destroying everything in their paths.”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you, centaur.” Zoro squared his shoulders, hissing as he spoke. “But if you must know, our disappearance was for your safety. Hydra abandoned his element and left my brothers and myself to clean up his mess. When we did finally come back to protect you, it cost Portgas his life, and it almost cost me mine. I bare the scars for the rest of my life as a reminder of my failures and you have the nerve to talk to me this way. You know nothing of what I have to do in order to protect your fragile little lives; what any of us gave up for you, or what we gave you. Your mate wields powers that I gave his people. Powers he has attempted to use against me and I haven’t even scoffed at it, where, within my rights as the Dragon of Water, I can kill him.”

Agatha looked over to Nero, who dropped his eyes to the still waters of the pool and nodded calmly. “He’s not wrong there,” he murmured quietly.

“But I wouldn’t,” Zoro continued, glancing at Sanji before looking back to Agatha. “As much as the outright dishonor is, I wouldn’t kill him. One of the things we always encouraged of the peoples was to stand up for themselves. In a world where clouded are growing daily, where our way of life is quickly dying, my brothers and I have always encouraged the peoples to fight back.” Reaching out, Zoro grabbed Sanji by the upper arm. “The world is tearing itself apart again, and I need him. That clouded’s sight is my blame, not the cook’s, so you shouldn’t hold that against him.”

Nero scoffed, looking up to Zoro. “What is it going to take to get you to leave, Roronoa? You can try to sway my opinion of you, but I will never forgive the dragons for the destruction you have caused. I blame you for our dwindling way of life as much as I blame clouded.”

“Fair enough,” Zoro nodded. “I’m sure we are at fault just as much as clouded are.” Taking a deep breath, Zoro let go of Sanji’s arm. “You have already given me all that I could have asked you to do. You have released the cook of his bond to you. Cook.”

“Yeah,” Sanji asked, looking over to Zoro. He blinked in the morning sun as he met the dragon’s eye. “What?” Sanji couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but at the same time, he knew it was the truth. Whatever Nero and Agatha thought of the dragons, Sanji had seen a side of them that he could never forget, and despite all the horrible things that he’d gone through, Sanji knew he owed Zoro— and Phoenix—  his life.

“You are done here. Let us go back to your apartment so you can pack what you need before we go back to the Manor. I would like to leave as soon as possible.”

“But, Zoro,” Sanji started, looking over to Nero and Agatha. Nero wouldn’t look at him and Agatha clearly didn’t know how to react. “I can’t just leave. My apartment. Monet and I have a lease and—”

“Your lease is through another of the magickal realm. As soon as I tell them what you have done, they will release you from it anyway.” Nero frowned from his place on the other side of the pool. “Just go, Sanji. You’re not welcome here anymore as long as Roronoa is in your presence and from the sounds of it; he has no plans to let you out of his sight.”

“Bold words for a fae,” Zoro hummed in amusement, despite baring his fangs at Nero. “I may be lenient, but don’t forget who you are talking to.”

“I could never forget you.” Nero took a step backward from the pool edge toward the walkway that lead back to the backdoor of the bed and breakfast. “Agatha.”

Agatha turned and followed Nero silently, looking over her shoulder as she did so. She was sad, Sanji could tell that, but she couldn’t disagree with Nero either. Sanji watched them walk away from where he stood by Zoro at the pool edge, unable to form the words to stop them. He was horrified that his life was once again crumbling down upon itself because of Zoro, but Sanji was even more upset at how Nero and Agatha treated Zoro. He was basically a god and they had treated him like some sort of monster.

Zoro grunted beside Sanji before he nodded and walked toward the pool gate. “Let’s go, Cook. It’s best if we move along ourselves before this becomes a bigger issue than it needs to be. Fae have big mouths.”

“It already is an issue, Zoro,” Sanji spat, standing his ground by the pool. “You have single-handedly destroyed my life for the second time in less than a day! Do you even care about what happens to me, or is everything about yourself?”

Zoro paused, looking over his shoulder to Sanji. “This from the one who just defended me in front of people who were willing to turn their back on you. Who _did_ turn their backs on you.”

“Only because you showed up.”

“I am not arguing with you about this, Cook. We need to leave. There is nothing here for you any longer. Let’s return to your apartment so you can gather what things you would like to bring with you.”

Sanji huffed, but deep down he knew Zoro was right. As soon as it became apparent that there was some sort of danger, Nero and Agatha had turned against him, Nero especially. Zoro would never do that, had proven he would never do that, not only right here by the pool, but when he’d dropped everything to go save him from Hydra, same as everyone else at the Manor had done. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Sanji sighed. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, or worse, outloud to Zoro, Sanji was starting to realize being at the Manor was where he was supposed to be. “Okay,” he started, following along behind Zoro. “I’m coming.”


	8. Book One: Pumice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slow chapter, but we get a lot of information, and you can feel the shift in the air.

Sanji looked up from poking at the small fire with a stick. He wasn’t cold, not really, even though there was a bit of a bite to the evening air. The forest around him and the clearing was quiet, but despite knowing he was safe, Sanji couldn’t help but be a little worried. Morgan was curled up near his feet and Sanji was actually shocked the dire cat hadn’t run off yet. Although, where a three-legged cat would venture off to in the middle of the fucking woods was beyond Sanji.

Zoro had vanished, muttering something about a lake nearby before flying off and leaving Sanji alone in the middle of the dark clearing. Beyond frustrated, Sanji had started a small fire, ready to argue if Zoro gave him shit for it when he got back from wherever the hell it was he’d gone. Sanji hadn’t see any sign of water from the sky and couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Zoro had simply used that as an excuse to leave him in the middle of nowhere.

Not that Sanji really believed Zoro would do that. The dragon had been more than excited to have Sanji finally agree to leave with him; to go back to the Manor and help him in whatever it was that he was trying to do. Sanji had asked, but Zoro had declined to explain and flying wasn’t really the best time or place to hold conversation. When he came back, Sanji was going to ask Zoro about what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, Sanji looked back down to his cat, wanting to reach out and touch the sleeping animal, but knowing it was a bad idea. As if able to read his thoughts, Morgan opened one eye, peering up at Sanji moodily. “What’s your take on all this? You’re magic, too,” Sanji asked. Morgan simply yawned, mouth full of sharp teeth, before closing his eye and going back to sleep.

Utterly useless, that’s what Morgan was. Sanji hoped he got along with Robin’s ravens though because if Morgan tried to eat them, that would be a huge problem. Sanji wondered what everyone was going to say to him. He’d just left and hadn’t been in contact with any of them for two years. He didn’t know how any of the people at the Manor house would react to him and Sanji was a bit nervous about returning, sighing as he pushed the piece of wood in the fire around with his stick.

From above him, Sanji heard a rustling in the trees and he looked up to see Zoro land in the small clearing. He remained in his dragon form, curling around Sanji and the fire, making a barrier of sorts with his own body. Sanji instantly could feel the heat of the dragon’s body in the air as Zoro settled down, huffing as he crossed his front feet over one another and looked down at Sanji.

Zoro really was a magnificent creature and in the time away from one another, Zoro hadn’t changed a bit. His scales still shone brightly in the light of the fire, his thick mane was full of twigs and what looked like bits of aquatic plants. He flexed his clawed toes into the moss covered ground before tipping his head to the side and scratching behind one ear with his claw where his horn grew from his skull. The end of Zoro’s tail curled near where Sanji sat, the green tuft dangerously close to the fire. Without even thinking, Sanji reached out, wrapping his hand around the very tip of Zoro’s tail, pulling it away from the fire. The scales were smaller near where the fur grew from Zoro’s skin, but were still sharp and Sanji had to make sure he hadn’t cut his palm when he let go. Zoro flipped his tail slightly at Sanji touching him, but otherwise didn’t make mention of the contact. Instead, he took a deep breath, laying his head down on his front paws, mere inches from Sanji, and closed his eye.

“Don’t go to sleep on me. I have questions for you.” Sanji reached out, poking Zoro in the snout with his stick.

Snorting, Zoro opened his eye and curled his lip slightly. “I’m not going to sleep, but I am tired. I’ve been flying for a good portion of the day.”

“Did you find anything to eat in the lake?” Sanji pulled his backpack to him, having told Zoro that he wanted to get some food, even if non-perishable things, from the store before leaving because he was not going to eat whatever random fish Zoro found in some strange lake. Reluctantly, Zoro had agreed. Opening his backpack, Sanji pulled out simple things that would keep for the day or two it would take to get back to the Manor.

“Yes.” Zoro licked the side of his muzzle. “Ask your questions, Cook. I don’t plan on staying up all night to talk to you.”

“Whatever,” Sanji grumbled, opening the jar of peanut butter he’d bought. “You want a sandwich?”

“You just asked if I ate.”

“Now I’m asking if you want a sandwich. It’s peanut butter, do you even like peanut butter?”

“You’re stalling,” Zoro growled and Sanji could feel it vibrate through the very ground. One of Zoro’s back feet dug deeply into the dirt, showing the irritation he was trying to keep in check.

Sanji scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You’re right, I am, because I’m trying to figure out how to word what I want to ask other than, ‘what in the actual fuck’ and since you being in your dragon form is  _ kind of _  intimidating, it's taking a moment.”

“Just spit it out.” Zoro turned his head to look at Sanji, his whiskers snaking out from the sides of his muzzle and moving like some sort of demented headless snakes. “Since when have you ever tried to hold your tongue around me?”

Sanji shrugged, taking a bite of his hastily made sandwich and remaining quiet as he chewed. He had so many questions and just didn’t know where to start in all honesty. He’d never expected to see Zoro again and certainly not under the guise of, we need to save the world again. All he wanted was to live a quiet life, but Sanji was beginning to realize that most likely was never going to happen.

Leaning back against Zoro’s flank, Sanji stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankle, not even realizing just how comfortable he actually was with Zoro, despite everything that had gone on the last couple days. “How about we start with why you were looking for me.” It wasn’t a question and Sanji knew Zoro wouldn’t take it that way.

The dragon took a deep breath, eye sliding shut as he did. “I told you,” Zoro started, voice a low rumble deep in his chest. “I realized my feelings for you. Again, I’m sorry. I knew you were attracted to me, I could smell it on you, but I didn’t react as I should have. I—”

“Not that,” Sanji breathed out. Shit; he’s almost forgotten that was one of the reasons that Zoro had wanted to find him. Hurt twisted in Sanji’s gut and he swallowed thickly, not sure if it was from Zoro confessing again or the fact he was eating peanut butter. “The other thing. The end of the word thing.”

Zoro swore under his breath and Sanji smirked at having caught the dragon off guard. Zoro was clearly thinking about what all of this could mean for their relationship, whether it stayed where it was or went somewhere else. Sanji didn’t want to think about it right now. He was still pissed off at Zoro for destroying what he had with Monet, as meager as it was. “We call then wyverns,” the dragon started, keeping his voice low, even as he dug his front claws deeper into the moss under his feet. The fire spit and popped, breaking the silence that threatened the air. “They are elemental Masters who have been corrupted by Hydra’s darkness. They lose themselves to the madness of the element, searching to gain more power and destroying anything in their paths. So far there hasn’t been a single one we have been able to turn back, not even water, we’ve tried.”

“And that’s why you wanted to know where I was,” Sanji asked. He set his half eaten sandwich on his leg, suddenly not very hungry. He’d become a Master mostly on his own, but it never occurred to him that Hydra’s darkness could have raged out of control like the other elements. He wasn’t dead, there should have been no need to worry about it. “Hydra’s shadows don’t live by the same rules as your element, do they?”

“No, they don’t. Despite the fact that Hydra is still alive; believe me, I checked, his new element does what it wants. It’s untamable and wild. So far the only thing we have been able to track on the darkness is that it goes after powerful elementalists.”

“Like me.”

“Like you,” Zoro confirmed. He sighed heavily. “So, everything else aside; what I want aside, I came looking for you to make sure you were all right. You are one of my clutch, Cook, I can’t let anything happen to you. Not after what happened to Usopp.”

“What happened to Usopp?” Sanji sat up straight, his sandwich forgotten as it tumbled to the ground. Morgan snagged it, dragging it off closer to one of Zoro’s feet to eat what he wanted of it.

“Nothing, Usopp is fine. Sorry, I meant when Hydra blinded me. I should have clarified.” Zoro opened his eye to look at Sanji. Even with the fire, the gold was bright, swirling with it’s flecks and flashing in the firelight. “Everyone at the Manor is fine. Perona’s ghouls know if anything is drawing near long before it can reach us.”

“And the sky?”

“Robin. She has eyes everywhere.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I got Morgan.” Sanji flung a hand toward his cat, frowning as he realized he’d stolen his sandwich. “Little bugger, you shouldn’t even like peanut butter.”

Zoro chuckled. “I didn’t want to see you again this way, but you left us little choice. We were— I was afraid that the darkness would try to corrupt you and I didn’t want to see you lose to it.”

“Are you saying I’m not strong enough to take care of myself?”

“I am saying I have seen elementals fall to the darkness. Elementals I have known for centuries. People stronger than Sabo have fallen to whatever it is the darkness whispers to them. So, yes, in theory, Cook, you are not strong enough.”

Sanji looked away, nodding quietly as he leaned back against Zoro’s side. He should have known that something that came from Hydra would be so powerful. Hydra had easily overtaken Sanji last time and if it hadn’t been for Zoro and everyone else, Sanji wasn’t sure he would have ever made it out of the dragon’s lair. “Tell me more about these wyverns.”

“They are heathen creations, mutations of the person they take over with essence of dragon in them. Wings, teeth, and tail, yet the words they weave and the spells they command are not limited to dragon knowledge.”

“What does that mean? Aren’t you and your brothers like, literally, the very elements?”

“Yes; and no. We are the original Masters of them and we can manipulate them in ways that none of the peoples can. Each of us has abilities that are unique to our element. Myself, for example: the ocean’s pressure has no affect on my body and I can breathe under the water, as well. Portgas could withstand the hottest of temperatures and Phoenix can fly higher than any other being, living or dead, nor does the cold bother him.” Zoro took a deep breath. “After the creation of Pab, Edar, and the others, we created the elementals. Not to be outdone, peoples like the fae, the elves, and even the dwarves, came to us and asked us to grant them the power of the elements, same as we had done with the elementals. Only, unlike the elementals who were built of their element, commanding a natural control, the peoples needed to learn spells in order to weave the element of choice to do their bidding. So spells needed to be created. Over the centuries, those spells were reworked and reworked again, changing the effects of how to manipulate the element within each culture.”

“Was that why Nero’s eyes glowed when he used his abilities?”

“Yes,” Zoro nodded. “Because of this, the wyvern are all different and the dragon qualities vary depending on the element. We all gave a part of ourselves when we granted the first peoples their powers and so when the darkness corrupts them, that comes out, twisting and mutating the Master into this wyvern of elemental darkness.”

“Sounds painful,” Sanji murmured, rubbing his arm. He was glad Zoro had come looking for him now that he knew what it was Zoro had been so urgent about. He still wasn’t sure how he could help, but he was happy to be near the dragon again. “And the Masters themselves? Wouldn’t you think they would fight this?”

“So far, none have succeeded to fight it fully and the few who did have lucid moments only wished for death.” Zoro growled lowly and Sanji could feel the rumble in Zoro’s body against his back. “In order to fight this, I have gathered the strongest elementalists I can find.”

“So why me then? I know I am stronger, but I know I am not the strongest fire elementalist out there.”

“Sabo is very impressed with your abilities.”

“Oh, so Sabo can track me,” Sanji frowned. Of course he could. Sanji rubbed his arm again, feeling the phantom pain of when he’d first had the marks burnt into his skin. He’d learned a lot since that day, now knew the necessity of the secrecy in giving Sanji his control over fire, but at that moment, as he’d been held down so Sabo could mutilate his arm, Sanji had been terrified. He wondered if the corrupted Masters had felt the same way before the darkness took them.

Zoro laughed, his entire body shaking with the sound. “I wish Sabo could track you. It would have made this entire ordeal that much easier. No, he can’t track your location, Cook, but you two are connected and he can feel your energy, you know that. He knows just how strong you have grown.”

Sanji nodded. “It took a lot of time and hard work. I’m nowhere near done yet, and I know that, but I have been able to master fire. Look.” Sanji snapped his fingers, a small spark igniting at his fingertips before catching fire to burn at the tips of his pointer and middle fingers. “I don’t even need a start anymore. I can do it on my own!”

“That’s highly impressive,” Zoro mused happily, the tip of his tail wagging and causing the fur to shake near Sanji. “You did all of that on your own without the training of a Master. Imagine what you could do had you had proper training.”

“I did have a little. We had a Master stay at the bed and breakfast for a few weeks several months ago. I was able to train some with her and she actually gave me my Master title. I wonder if she’s okay.” Sanji frowned as he thought about the elemental who he’s spent so much time with. She’d been old, having learned from an elemental who had been taught by Portgas himself. She’d been impressed with Sanji’s self taught abilities, and had been more than happy to teach him. At his fingertips, his little flame sputtered and died.

“I don’t have an answer to that, Cook.” Zoro closed his eye, inhaling deeply and settling down to get comfortable. “Try to get some sleep. I want to be home by midday tomorrow and if we leave early enough, we can be.”

“Okay,” Sanji nodded, raising his hand toward the fire and settling it low, flickering flames over the bed of hot coals. He looked over to Morgan who was curled up near one of Zoro’s toes. Sanji thought about trying to call Morgan away so he didn’t get hurt, but he figured both Zoro and his cat were well aware of where they were and kept quiet, pulling his jacket tighter around himself as he tried to get comfortable against Zoro’s side. Just before he fell asleep, Sanji felt Zoro’s tail settle over him, the fur tickling his nose, but also serving as a makeshift blanket, and Sanji couldn’t help a small smile, turning into the fur and realizing just how soft it really was before falling asleep.


	9. Book One: Pumice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji finally returns to the manor.

As soon as Sanji saw the Manor house, he grew nervous. Underneath him, he could feel Zoro’s body moving as the dragon circled the house in order to land in the backyard. The Manor property still looked the same with the front yard looking dead and the backyard looking as green as ever. Usopp and Franky did always do a great job with the place. Sanji could see Zoro’s pool with the green layer of marimo on the bottom and standing out by the tree, Sanji could see what looked like Usopp, Perona, Law, and of course, Merry.

Zoro inhaled deeply just before landing in the short cut grass smoothly, not even able to lay down so Sanji could get off him before Usopp tackled Sanji. He’d never seen the faun jump so high before, but with one single leap he was wrapping his arms around Sanji’s shoulders, tumbling the two of them off the far side of Zoro into the grass. “Sanji,” Usopp yelled, squeezing him tightly. “You’re back! I missed you so much!”

“Usopp,” Sanji wheezed, catching the curve of one of Usopp’s horns to the face. Pushing the faun back, he looked up at him from the ground, grinning madly at him. “Look at your fucking horns, man! They’re huge!”

“Aren’t they impressive?” Usopp tucked one hand under his chin, grinning as he twisted his head to the side so Sanji could see them better. The horns were thick and dark, curving around the sides of Usopp’s head and ending just above his ears.

“Yeah they are.” Sitting up, Sanji laughed as Usopp slid back into Sanji’s lap. Behind them Zoro snorted, scratching at his nose before he transformed into his human form and stretched.

“I’m gonna go take a nap,” Zoro groaned as he yawned.

“Sanji!” Perona jumped onto him, adding to the growing tangle of bodies on the ground. “I was so happy when Roronoa said he found you! Welcome home!”

“Hi, Perona!” Sanji grinned at her. She was still the same, chewing gum with her earbuds firmly planted in her ears.

She pulled one out and hugged Sanji tightly. “I missed you so much! We all did.”

“Welcome back, Sanji-ya.” Sanji looked up to see Law’s hand outstretched, a small grin on his face. His tattoos were glowing brightly.

Sanji grinned back, happily taking Law’s hand and thankful for the help up off the ground. “Hey, Law. I guess it’s good to be back. I’m still trying to work that out.”

Perona stood and looked over her shoulder to Zoro, who without another word, had wandered off. Sanji could see Morgan following along behind the dragon as he made his way toward the pool. “Whose cat is that,” Perona sked, popping a bubble in her gum.

“That’s Morgan,” Sanji answered. “He’s a direcat. I got him to help fend off the ravens.” Saying it outloud made Sanji feel horrible, biting his lip as he shook his head. “Ah, well, it doesn’t matter now. You found me and I’m back. Zoro told me what’s been going on. Sounds like it’s been a pretty fucked up couple of years.”

“You have no idea,” Usopp said from the ground, lifting his arm as Merry tried to climb into his lap. That damned sheep was like a fucking dog and Usopp rubbed her cheeks, pressing their foreheads together. “But we are safe here, right, Merry?” The sheep bleeped, the bell around her neck clinking.

“How’s Roronoa,” Perona asked, resting her hand lightly on Sanji’s arm. “He was pretty upset when he left. He seemed excited, but apprehensive at the same time. Almost like he didn’t want to go get you.”

“Well,” Sanji looked over to the pool wall, the hedges thick and green. “He caused a lot of trouble while he was there. Got me fired from my job and participated in breaking the veil to a clouded. That was fun,” Sanji added dryly. He wasn’t sure how much everyone here knew, so he didn’t offer up the information that they had kissed and that Zoro was looking for a relationship that Sanji had wanted years before. “Typical Zoro shit; you know how he can be. Protective as all fuck, the stupid salamander.”

Law chuckled darkly, eyes flashing from under his stupid hat. “He didn’t try to kill you this time, did he?”

“I almost wish he had,” Sanji mused, glancing over to Law, before bending to grab his backpack. “I could use a shower, guys. Would one of you mind letting me shower in your room?”

“Don’t be silly,” Perona giggled, pointing toward the house. “As soon as we found you, we got your old room ready. It’s all set and waiting. We aren’t kidding when we said welcome  _ home _ , Sanji.”

“You kept my room,” Sanji asked, chuckling as all of them started walking toward the back of the house and the screen door that lead into the kitchen. “I’m sure you hired more help, what about them?”

“Sanji, the house is huge, we gave them other rooms.” Perona stuffed her hands into the pocket of her sweatshirt. “Where’s the rest of your things?”

“Probably sleeping with Zoro,” Sanji shrugged. “All I have is my backpack and Morgan. Really didn’t have a lot of time and honestly, most of the things in my apartment belonged to my ex-girlfriend. I didn’t have a lot to begin with.”

“So you need clothes,” Law asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Usopp and I were going to go into town. Do you wanna come with us and just take a shower afterward?”

“Actually.” Sanji followed behind Usopp into the kitchen, pausing as he looked around the quiet room. A wave of nostalgia washed over Sanji and he almost walked over to the prep station to take his knives out and put them away. “Yeah, I don’t have much more than a change of clothes. Zoro was pushing me to leave, so I grabbed my knife kit and my toothbrush basically. I don’t have a lot of money though, so gonna have to hit the thrift shops.”

Perona snorted back a laugh as the screen door banged closed. “Thrift shop. Come on, Sanji, you’re a part of this household, you don’t have to settle for thrift shops.”

“I have gotten some of my best clothes from thrift shops, Perona.” Usopp pulled at the shirt he was wearing. “You can find some good stuff!”

“Yes, but Sanji doesn’t have to, if you don’t want to.” Perona smiled. “I can ask Mihawk for the credit card and off we shall go. We can make an afternoon of it. Get some lunch, do some shopping, maybe check out the cute boys.” Perona nudged Sanji in the ribs, smirking at him as she did so. “You know you want to.”

Sanji could feel the blush creeping over his cheeks. Yeah, he did kind of want to go hang out with everyone and catch up. He was glad that so far everyone had welcomed him back so openly. He didn’t regret leaving, but he knew he could have gone about it better than he had. Sanji knew he’d done a lot of growing up over the last two years and now was the time to prove it. “Yeah, yeah, all right. Let’s go. Are you driving, Usopp? When we get back I have to talk to Master Mihawk about working. I need a way to pay for myself here.”

“You’re working with Roronoa, that’s more than enough. We already talked about it.” Perona shrugged, blowing another bubble in her gum. “You aren’t just hired help anymore, Sanji. You’re one of us, one of Roronoa’s clutch, and that’s completely different.”

* * *

 

Sanji closed his bedroom door behind him, leaning back against the door as he looked around. Everything was just as he remembered it. The large bed pushed against one wall and the large windows with the thick and dark curtains pulled. Sanji knew if he opened them, he would have a perfect view of the backyard and the pool. Sort of ironic, if he thought about it now. Sanji had never taken the chance to watch Zoro from up here, not that he spent a lot of time in his room.

Shaking his head, Sanji kicked off his shoes and walked over to the bed to set his bags down. Perona and him had hit all the different little shops in the market town while Law and Usopp had gone looking for something for Usopp’s horns. Not that anything was wrong with them, but apparently they were still growing and Usopp had wanted to get something to help with the soreness of his skull. Then they had all met for lunch at one of the cafes, laughing and joking just like old times while they ate.

It had been a good afternoon, and as tired as Sanji felt right now, he was glad it had gone so well. He hadn’t realized just how much he needed a good afternoon with real friends and this had done the trick. Rummaging through one of the bags, Sanji pulled out a T-shirt and a new pair of jeans, tossing them aside to find the pair of birkenstock sandals they bought. Sanji wasn’t going to get them, but Perona had set them down with the new pair of sneakers, daring him to put them back.

She’d won that argument pretty easily. Sanji was more than grateful for all the new clothing, figuring he had just enough time to take a quick shower before dinner. Grabbing the small bag of toiletry items they had bought— shampoo, body wash and a few random odds and ends like toothpaste— Sanji picked up his clothes and walked into the bathroom.

There were several fluffy towels sitting on the shelving over the toilet and Sanji grabbed one as he set his clothes on the closed toilet lid. Sanji set about putting his toiletry items where they belonged and starting the shower. Stripping down, Sanji climbed into the water, groaning as the shower spray hit his shoulders, the warm water relaxing his tense muscles. He just stood there, head bowed forward and hands bracing himself against the wall, enjoying the moment of quiet.

Now that he was here, Sanji felt that this was right. He’d been so anxious and unwilling to return that he’d never thought about the what happened after he’d arrived. Things seemed to fall back into place as if he’d never left, at least with Usopp, Law and Perona. Sanji had yet to see Franky, Robin, and Master Mihawk. Zoro, as usual, was a completely different case.

Sanji had to figure that out, too. Sanji stood, the water hitting his face as he pressed his fingers against his bottom lip. He could still feel Zoro’s mouth on his, the heat of his body and the feeling as his stomach dropped when Sanji kissed back. He’d wanted that kiss as much as Zoro had, not caring in that single moment about the rest of the world around him. Zoro was kissing him and that was all that mattered.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Sanji dropped his arm to his side, smacking himself in the thigh before he reached for the shampoo bottle. He wondered how Monet was doing. Not because Sanji wanted to get back with her, but she’d been a part of his everyday life for the last year and a half. The sudden change in routine was what he was missing, not necessarily Monet herself. Sanji felt bad about that, too. He should have never treated her that way, dragging out what he knew was going to be a hopeless relationship for his own selfish needs. He’d been looking for a way to  _ forget _ Zoro and he’d used Monet’s kindness to do it. She’d been looking for so much more and something Sanji knew he couldn’t offer. In a way, Zoro arriving when he did saved Sanji a lot of trouble.

That brought up a whole new set of questions for Sanji and he frowned at the ceiling as he tipped his head back to rinse out his hair. What did he do about Zoro? Finding out that Zoro was attracted to him had come as a shock. Finding out that Zoro had known even before Sanji had left the Manor the first time just pissed him off. Zoro coming to find him to confess was endearing and Sanji felt that pang in his chest for the dragon all over again. His own emotions were all over the place and Sanji didn’t know what to do or how to really react.

Sanji groaned as he washed his body, hating the fact he had to deal with such a decision. Part of him was so overjoyed at Zoro’s return of affection that he wanted to run down into his den and curl up beside him. At the same time, Sanji wanted to kick Zoro in the fucking face, pissed beyond reason that Zoro had waited, not only to tell him, but at the fact he waited two years and broke up another relationship while he did so.

Rinsing off, Sanji grabbed his towel, drying off quickly before wrapping it around his waist. Scrubbing a towel through his hair, Sanji wiped the mirror clean, picking up his new hair brush to comb his hair. He paused as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, hair a tangled mess, but flipped to the other side of his face, covering his right eye.

Fuck it, he thought, raising the brush to pull the knots from his hair. Old place, new you. Now would be a good time to start growing that mustache he wanted Sanji figured as he rubbed his fingers against the growing stubble of his cheeks. Monet had hated the idea of his goatee and absolutely flat out refused his suggestion of growing a mustache to go with it. Maybe there was a bright side to this whole shit show, afterall. He could do what he wanted and didn’t have to conform to the whims of a partner. However, Sanji did wonder what everyone here at the Manor would think of his little self-brought-on makeover as he cleaned the sink; especially Zoro.


	10. Book One: Pumice

Sanji shouldn’t have been surprised to see the two new members of the household as he entered the dining room, but he was. Sitting next to Law was a young man who was wearing what looked like a deer skull on his head, complete with the antlers. The skull covered part of his face, but Sanji could see bright blue face paint from under the shadow of the skull, marking that looked similar to that of a human skull across his cheeks and over his eyes and nose. Bits of bone, glass and other things hung from the antlers, twisting and clinking with every movement the man made. On one of the antlers, near the deer skull was what looked like a piece of silver, clasped around the horn as part of the decoration. Both him and Law were deep in conversation, papers spread out before them as they discussed some sort of medical something. Sanji didn’t want to interfere.

The other new member was a tall, dark skinned man, who glared at Sanji as he entered the room. He was setting plates and trays full of food on the table. Sanji instantly realized this was the new chef and he tried to stay out of the man’s way as he moved closer to the table. Law noticed him and looked up. “Feel better after your shower, Sanji-ya?”

“Yes, thanks, Law.” Sanji automatically moved to where he used to sit at the table, pausing just as he touched the back of the chair. “Can I still sit here?”

“As far I am concerned, sure.” Law shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “Let me introduce you. Chopper-ya, this is Sanji Black. He’s our former chef and now residential Master elementalist. He specializes in fire. He was granted his abilities from the elemental Sabo-ya, who you met before. Sanji-ya; this is Chopper, he’s the new household medical expert. He’s a curandero, whose knowledge is quite skillful in several areas of expertise. We were lucky he agreed to live here.”

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to study one of the dragons,” Chopper beamed from next to Law. He seemed like a bright and bubbly person, his large brown eyes giving away his excitement. “This is my assistant, Daz Bones. Or well, that’s why I created him. He prefers to cook, so our arrival worked out very well.”

“He’s a golem,” Sanji asked, sliding into his seat and watching Daz Bones as he went about his work. “Like Luffy is?”

“Exactly like that,” Chopper nodded. “He’s the perfect golem, but I am not sure why he didn’t imprint an interest in medical knowledge. I can only assume that during his creation, the want for alchemy was transmuted into a love of cooking. In essence, they are one in the same.”

“He’s a very good cook, though, but not quite as good as you, Sanji.”

“Robin!” As soon as Sanji heard her voice, he could feel her tendrils slither over him and he stood, pushing out of his chair and giving her a hug when she approached the table. “How are you?”

“We finally found you. You did well to outsmart Nami and Brook. They were not pleased to have lost your trail. And are even less pleased you brought Morgan with you.”

“Yeah,” Sanji chuckled, pulling out her chair for her so she could sit. “I couldn’t just leave him. Besides, he seems to have attached himself to Zoro.”

“That will upset them even more I am afraid.” Robin frowned as she sat down. “They greatly enjoy being able to eat with him.”

“I’m sure it will work itself out. I will try to keep him away from them, but have you ever dealt with a direcat? They have the biggest attitudes! Even I don’t pet him and he’s my cat!” Sanji sat back down in his chair.

“You own a direcat,” Chopper asked and Sanji could see the worry in his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s a long story, but he did his job. Mostly. Well, yeah, it wasn’t the ravens that found me. It was Zoro.” Sanji shrugged as Usopp and Perona entered the dining room, sitting down in their spots at the table and joining the conversation.

Law started packing up his papers, slipping them into a folder that was on the table and setting them on the floor by his chair. Daz Bones worked around them, setting the rest of the food on the table, along with pitchers full of drinks. He seemed to have his own flow to how he served the members of the house, and Sanji found he had to bite his tongue as to not speak out about his method. Every chef worked differently, Sanji reminded himself. And it wasn’t his job anymore to worry about the food. He knew he would probably still end up in the kitchen however. There was going to be no way he could just stop cooking. He’d have to try and talk to Daz Bones at some point and see what kind of personality he had compared to Luffy.

Master Mihawk and Franky entered the dining room together, settling into their spots and welcoming Sanji back. Master Mihawk simply shook his hand and informed Sanji he was glad he had decided to return. Sanji declined to mention he hadn’t had much of a choice. Franky was crying from his spot near Robin, commenting on how super beautiful it was that they were all together again and how much he’d missed Sanji. The only one missing was Zoro and Master Mihawk raised a brow at the empty chair at the other end of the table. “Is Roronoa not going to join us?”

“Nope.” Perona shook her head. “He’s out by the pool still. He says he isn’t hungry.”

“I’m sure that’s not true though,” Usopp added in. “He’s been asleep out there since Sanji and him god home earlier. He has to be hungry.”

“You know why he won’t come in and eat.” Law glanced down to where Daz Bones was seated at the table. Sanji looked over at the golem, who was sitting in one of the chairs closest to Zoro’s seat at the far end of the table. There was still two seats on each side of the table that were empty, but Sanji knew that with Zoro’s sense of smell, he would have been easily able to smell the golem. Daz Bones didn’t seem to be offended by this in any way whatsoever as he handed a bowl of food to Chopper and carried on with eating his dinner.

“I can bring him something after we eat,” Sanji found himself offering. “He has to eat, too. I can make him something real quick if I need to.”

“That won’t be necessary, Sanji.” Master Mihawk picked up his wine glass. “Roronoa can eat the same meal as the rest of us. If you want to take it out to him after dinner, that is up to you, but don’t feel a need to have to make him something.”

“He still has to eat though.” Sanji frowned. “I’ll make him a plate of the leftovers afterward and take it out to him.”

Sanji was surprised at how easily things seemed to settle into the normal eating routine, even from when he has been here previously. Everyone laughed and joked, picked on one another and Sanji found he was settling back into the swing of the Manor easily, almost as if he’d never left. Part of him was a little horrified at that thought as he automatically picked up his plate when he was finished, starting the after dinner clean up as he had time and time again, but the rest of him was severely thankful and overjoyed at being allowed back into everyone’s lives so easily.

Even despite not having to, Sanji ended up helping Daz Bones with cleanup and the rest of the house laughed at him before going off on their own. Once in the kitchen, Sanji put a plate of food together for Zoro — baked chicken with vegetables and bread — before making his way out to the pool. He paused just past the screen door, taking a moment to light a cigarette before walking across the stone paths to deliver the dragon his food.

Just like before, Sanji couldn’t help but think as we walked. He still wondered where exactly he fit in now and he took a drag off his cigarette as he walked up the steps and around the edge of the hedge that surrounded the pool. Sanji’s breath caught in his throat as he saw Zoro across the pool in one of the loungers. He was sound asleep, or well, looked it, Sanji knew better than to assume anything about the dragon at this point, but he was completely naked. Really, Sanji shouldn’t have been surprised.

Clearing his throat, Sanji forced himself to look away and concentrate on walking across to him, setting the plate down on the small table that sat between the loungers. “Smells like that damned golem.” Zoro scrunched his nose, not moving otherwise. At his feet, Morgan opened one eye, realized it was Sanji, and went back to sleep. “What do you think of him?”

Sanji shrugged. “He’s a golem. He’s quiet.” Smirking, Sanji took a drag off his cigarette, sitting down in the other lounger and leaning back in it. “What do you think of him?”

“That’s a stupid question.” Zoro finally opened his eye, rolling slightly to look at what Sanji had brought him. Without hesitation, he grabbed the piece of chicken — thigh and leg — and picked it up, taking a bite and kept talking. “You all settled in now?”

“I think so.” Sanji rolled his eyes at Zoro’s manners. Some things really never did change. To his credit though, he did offer the dire cat a piece when Morgan picked his head up and swiveled his ears toward Zoro. “Everyone seemed excited that I was back. It’s a bit weird not having to cook though. I don’t know what to do with myself. Last time I would have had a couple hours worth of work to do.”

“Last time you were just hired help. You don’t work here this time. Not in the same sense as you did before.” Zoro took another bite of his chicken, sitting up to pick up one of the florets of broccoli and eat that, too.

“Zoro, honestly, your table manners are atrocious.”

Zoro held up his hand and swallowed. “One: not at the table. Two: I told you, I stopped going by Zoro.”

“It’s weird to call you Roronoa, especially after Master Mihawk demanded we all call you Zoro.”

“That was because of Hydra though.” Sitting a bit closer to the edge of his lounger, Zoro continued to eat as Sanji finished his cigarette. “Hydra can’t hurt you, you know this. He can’t hurt me. Yes, using my name resonates, but what harm can he do locked away with Edar and Pab? I have made a habit of checking on him regularly now. He’s not going to escape.”

Sanji sat up, snubbing his cigarette butt on his shoe before setting the remainder on the corner of the table. “It’s going to take a while to get used to calling you Roronoa. It still just feels weird to call you that.”

Zoro hummed. “Sounds good though. I always liked that name the most.”

“I take it Zoro and Roronoa aren’t the only things you have been called over the millenia?”

“Hardly.” Zoro shook his head, dropping the chicken bone back onto the plate and picking up one of the towels he kept to wipe off his hands. He settled back against the lounger, scratching at the scar across his chest and crossing his ankles. “It’s a long list and I have forgotten most of them.”

Sanji nodded, relaxing back into the lounger and simply enjoying the calmness of the evening. He could hear crickets chirping and frogs croaking out in the yard. It was warm still, but Sanji could feel the beginning bite in the air, hinting at dropping temperatures that came with nighttime. Next to him, Zoro inhaled deeply, shifting slightly as he sighed. “Feels right, doesn’t it, Cook?”

Sanji looked over to Zoro, taking a moment to study his face in the dim light. Zoro looked the same as he always did, the scars maring his face giving him a look that was much fiercer than he actually was. As much as Zoro annoyed him most of the time, Sanji could admit, he had a gentle and caring side; a compassion he noticed that both Hydra and Phoenix had lacked. Sanji wondered if Portgas had been more like Zoro or their other brothers. “Yeah,” he breathed out, looking up into the sky and seeing the first of the evening stars blinking as light clouds passed over them. “It really does.”

Zoro grunted in acknowledgement. “Good.”

“Hey, Zo — Roronoa,” Sanji corrected himself. “What’s my purpose here this time? You said before you knew I was supposed to be here, but you couldn’t figure out why. Did you ever figure it out.”

Zoro didn’t bother to open his eye or even move as he took a deep breath. “You’re my fire, Cook. As I am water, and Usopp is earth. The only thing I lack is air, but users of air are as elusive as my brother. You are all masters of your craft and that’s all I could ask.” Getting up, Zoro walked passed Sanji to the patio table to pick up his pants. Sanji couldn’t help but watch, rather enjoying the view he got of Zoro’s ass as the dragon bent slightly to put his pants on. Pulling them up over his hips, Zoro looked over his shoulder to Sanji. “I can feel you staring.”

“Sorry.” Sanji looked away, noticing the plate and thankful for the distraction as he reached out to pick it up. “I should bring this back inside.”

Sanji went to walk by Zoro, but the dragon reached out and grabbed Sanji by the upper arm, halting him in his steps. Sanji could feel the warmth of Zoro’s hand even through his shirt, his grip just tight enough that Sanji knew if he tried to pull away, Zoro wouldn’t let go. Sanji met Zoro’s eye, the gold glowing faintly in the dim light around a dark pupil. Zoro looked like he wanted to say something, do something, body poised for movement that he just wasn’t committing to. He licked his lip and Sanji mimicked the action, not entire sure why either. His heart was racing in his chest and he found himself anxious at what it was that Zoro was possibly thinking of doing.

The moment of silence stretched out and neither Sanji nor Zoro moved or said a thing. Finally, Sanji looked away, pulling his arm free of Zoro’s grasp and the dragon let him go, though he seemed to do so reluctantly. “I’m going to head inside. It’s early, but I’m tired. I didn’t get a nap like you did,” Sanji mumbled, turning for the stairs of the pool area. Zoro hummed in understanding and silently followed along behind Sanji toward the Manor house.


	11. Book One: Pumice

The short walk across the backyard was brutal. Sanji felt tense and anxious, his heart racing in his chest and not calming down. He could feel Zoro behind him, no doubt watching Sanji’s back as they moved. Sanji gripped the empty plate tightly in his hand. He wasn’t sure what Zoro was thinking, although he did think he had a pretty good idea. Same as Sanji, Zoro was most likely thinking about what was going on between them now; what had been going on between them when he left the first time, and how it was playing out this time. Sanji knew deep down that a relationship with Zoro was exactly what he wanted, but he kept hesitating. He knew why, a good part of him was telling himself that going from dating one person to another in less than three days was kind of a skeezy thing to do, but at the same time his mind had been on Zoro the entire time he was with Monet.

Sanji had never stopped wanting to be with Zoro and that pissed him off just as much as everything else. Well, maybe pissed off wasn’t the right word. Upset, confused; those were better choices. His mind and body were pulling him in two different directions and he wasn’t sure which one he was supposed to, or wanted, to follow.

Reaching out, Sanji pulled open the screen door, holding it open for Zoro, who walked passed Sanji without a word. Turning to take the plate to the dishwasher, Sanji stopped short, meeting Zoro’s eye from where he had stopped in the small entryway that opened up into the kitchen. He was about to ask what Zoro needed when the dragon stepped forward, grabbing Sanji by the shoulders and twisting the two of them to slam Sanji’s shoulders against the wall. “Hey,” Sanji gasped, trying to figure out what in the hell Zoro’s problem was all of a sudden, when Zoro leaned in close to him.

“I can smell you.” His voice was low, almost a purr, but mixed with that hint of a dominant growl. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Sanji could feel Zoro’s fingers biting into his upper arms, shoulders pressed tightly against the unforgiving wall. “I don’t know what I want,” Sanji admitted. “This is hard. Part of me is upset; this entire thing kind of came as a huge shock.” Sanji took a deep breath, biting at his lip. “The rest of me…” he trailed off, flicking his eyes from Zoro’s eye to the dragon’s mouth. Sanji could see the smallest hint of one of his canines biting into his lower lip, some sort of feral want twisting deep in his gut. “The rest of me wants to,” he forced himself to say. “I don’t know which part to listen to.”

“I have put you in a difficult position,” Zoro conceded. It didn’t stop him, however, from leaning in closer to Sanji.

“Yes,” Sanji breathed out, making himself look at the scar across the bridge of Zoro’s nose. The kitchen was dark except for the couple dim lights that were on all the time and they caused deep shadows to strike across Zoro’s face, deepening his scars even more than they normally were.

The ones across his cheek scrunched slightly as Zoro smiled, mischievous and possessive. “You need to make a decision, Cook.”

“It’s not that simple, Roronoa.” Sanji frowned. Was it that simple though? He could just agree to a relationship with Zoro here and now and that would be the end of it. They would be dating, something they both apparently wanted since before Sanji left the Manor two years ago. But whereas Zoro apparently spent the last two years looking for Sanji, Sanji had tried to move on. He’d failed, of course, but he had tried, and that was the part that was arguing with the rest of him now. He never loved Monet, he knew that, but he had cared for her. Maybe not in the same way he cared about Zoro, but he still cared, and he felt a sense of betrayal crawl up from the depths of his person at the thought of simply abandoning what they had.

Zoro made the choice for him. Leaning in, Zoro kissed him. Compared to what Sanji was expecting, he was gentle, calm and quiet, his movements simple and chaste before he pulled away. “It is that simple.”

“But it’s not,” Sanji breathed out, not even realizing he was leaning forward until Zoro met him. Sanji dropped the plate in favor of wrapping his arms around the dragon’s shoulders, the crash and clatter of the plate breaking a concern somewhere in the back of Sanji’s mind as Zoro hummed happily into the kiss. Sanji let himself get swept up in the moment, feeling the heat of Zoro’s bare skin against his forearms as they moved against one another in the quiet of the kitchen. Zoro’s hands fell from Sanji’s arms, sliding to Sanji’s hips and pushing him tighter against the wall.

One of Sanji’s hands slid down to press against Zoro’s chest, feeling the steady heartbeat as he tipped his head to the side, encouraging Zoro to deepen the kiss when he asked. Letting his eyes close, Sanji focused on the kiss and the hum through his body that seemed to agree with Zoro. It was this simple and he could just do it; just commit to the dragon and move forward from this desolate place he seemed to want to keep himself. Zoro’s hands on his hips felt good and Sanji realized he was leaning into Zoro’s touch, wanting to take this further still.

Zoro suddenly broke the kiss, dropping his head to Sanji’s shoulder for a brief moment before looking at him. Their eyes met and Sanji knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out forever when it came to what Zoro was demanding. He would eventually bend to the dragon’s will. He wasn’t even aware of what he was doing until he took a step forward, pressing his mouth against Zoro’s in a more aggressive kiss. Zoro met him, raising one arm to press his hand against the back of Sanji’s head and keeping him locked in their kiss. Not that Sanji found himself arguing, nipping at Zoro’s lip and wanting to taste him again.

Tongues met as Zoro opened his mouth for Sanji and Sanji pulled Zoro closer to him by his pants, hips meeting, before taking that step back and forcing Zoro to take one forward. Zoro grunted, his other hand moving to press against the wall to steady himself, breaking the kiss just long enough for him to inhale deeply and come back, taking control and pressing against Sanji forcefully. Zoro kissed Sanji hard, holding him in place before he broke away again, eye glowing faintly in the low light of the kitchen. “Is that your answer?”

“I don’t know.” Sanji shook his head, grip tightening on Zoro’s pants. “You know I have been attracted to you for a long time, and to just suddenly find out you return that affection is a bit hard for me to adjust to. I need a little time.”

“Time is meaningless.”

“To you, yes, but not to me.”

“It’s all meaningless, even to you. If anything, I would think you would want to make this decision quickly so you don’t waste time.”

“That’s stupid. Why would I do that? Rush into something I haven’t fully thought out.”

Zoro’s eye flashed and he laughed as he took a step back from Sanji, kicking a piece of the plate with his heel. “The entire time I have known you, Cook, that’s exactly what you have done.”

Sanji frowned. “Well, let’s start with this then. If you want me to make a decision, you have to return a courtesy to me that you have asked for yourself.”

“What,” Zoro asked, tipping his head to the side in question.

Sanji crossed his arms, hoping his seriousness was clear in his voice. “I have a name. And it’s not ‘cook.’ I have never been a cook. I am a chef, and yes, there is a difference.”

Zoro smiled, a true and genuine smile, which caught Sanji off guard more than him moving in to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I know,” Zoro started, remaining close. Sanji’s breath hitched slightly from how close they were. “And I know your name, as well.” Zoro pulled away, stepping over the pieces of broken plate and walking the short distance to the wine cellar door. “Get some sleep, tomorrow we start planning for our trip out into the world.”

“But —” Sanji stopped, not sure what it was he was going to say.

Zoro apparently found that funny, a large snarky grin breaking across his mouth. “Good night, Sanji.” With that he was gone, disappearing down the stairs into the wine cellar and leaving Sanji alone in the kitchen.

Sanji stood there in shock for a moment, unable to really comprehend the fact that Zoro had used his name. He had never expected in a million years that Zoro would actually give him that and had settled long ago at forever being known as ‘cook’ to the damned dragon. Sanji stood there in the middle of the dark kitchen, pieces of broken plate smashed around his feet, and laughed. He couldn’t help it. This entire situation was almost too much to believe. How had his life come to this over the course of the last couple years. If someone had told him as he decided to take the job of private chef here originally, that in two years time he’d be contemplating dating a dragon, Sanji knew he would have laughed until he’d cried; yet, here he stood in the middle of the kitchen, doing just that.

Sighing, he looked to the pieces of broken plate at his feet. He’d recklessly dropped it, ironic if he thought about it, as Zoro’s words of doing reckless things seemed to be ringing true. Frowning at himself, Sanji stepped over the pieces, moving to the dry storage to get the broom. He needed to clean that up before he went to bed. Stupid dragon, once again leaving Sanji to clean up the mess he’d helped to make. Maybe he could get that to change with time, too, but Sanji doubted it. Zoro didn’t change his mind once it was made up and Sanji knew he would have a hard time trying to get Zoro to change it. He would just have to do the best that he could with the dragon and hope for the best, but maybe, Sanji thought as he picked up the broom and headed back across the kitchen, there was hope. Even just tonight, he’d gotten Zoro to do something he’d never thought was possible. The damned dragon had actually said his name.

He let his mind wander as he cleaned up the broken glass, throwing it away and returning the broom and dustpan back to the dry storage. Running a hand through his hair, Sanji stood in the middle of the kitchen and simply looked around. This had been his space for months, but wasn’t any longer and something about that felt a little weird to him. He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that this was no longer his domain, but he still wasn’t sure what to do with himself if he wasn’t here to cook. For a split second Sanji felt like he had no purpose here at the manor, but then he pushed the thought aside, knowing that if he truly served no purpose, Zoro wouldn’t have wanted him to return.

Zoro had called Sanji his fire, part of the perfect combinations of elements that Zoro needed to fight — well, fight whatever it was he needed to fight. These wyvern. Sanji knew it went deeper than that though, Zoro had made that perfectly clear. Closing his eyes, Sanji took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out slowly. He needed to make a decision, and he needed to stop denying himself, and Zoro, what it was they both knew he wanted. Swallowing, Sanji glanced over to the wine cellar door. It was now or never he supposed.

Sanji’s heart was pounding in his chest. The last time he’d done this, the outcome had been less than favorable. Subconsciously, he pressed his hand flat against his chest, feeling the ghost pains of his broken ribs from when Zoro stepped on him. He hoped this time around he’d be welcomed a bit more openly than previously.

Same as before, the stairs shook under his weight and his shoes clunked against the wood as he moved. The wine cellar smelled the same — musty and old with the faintest zing of wine — and all the doors were still closed with their paper labels. The room hadn’t changed at all. Turning, Sanji moved to the last door; the door that had been off limits and one of the greatest of mysteries here at the manor. The tag with the name  _ Roronoa _ was still pinned to the door and Sanji couldn’t help the smallest hint of a smile when he saw that the door was open, the small crack giving way to the broken room that lay beyond.

Alcohol bottles no longer littered the floor, but instead were gathered into wooden boxes that were stacked in the corner. Zoro’s katana rested in their stands on the table and Sanji paused for only a second to look at them, eyes falling to the white one that was most familiar, before moving on to the gaping hole in the back of the room. Sanji knew now what lay beyond that dark portal, what monsters lurked underneath the manor house.

With a deep breath, Sanji pulled out his phone, turned on his flashlight, and crossed the threshold into Zoro’s domain. A front of warm air hit him in the face and Sanji closed his eyes against it, letting it wash over him before he moved on. His steps were careful and he took his time before each step, making sure he was paying attention to where he was walking and what it was he was walking on, even though the ground seemed to be nothing more than packed dirt.

Carefully, Sanji raised the flashlight, looking ahead of him as far as the light would let him. He could hear water and see a small trickling rivlet of water running near the edge of the far wall, leading back deeper into the dragon’s den. He hadn’t even gotten this far last time and was a little nervous about what it was Zoro might do if Sanji actually found him. Not letting that sway him, Sanji decided to follow the water and kept walking, wondering just how deep this place actually went.

Sanji looked about as he walked, moving the flashlight on his phone to the side to look at the walls and ceiling, impressed at just how smooth and rounded the tunnel really was. He wondered if Usopp had a hand in helping to make this place for Zoro, as it had been mentioned Usopp was earth, same as Sanji was fire. Sanji knew the gardener had a thing for plants, but this was just beyond anything that Sanji thought Usopp would even know how to do.

Ahead of him, Sanji could see the tunnel begin to widen and give way to a much larger cavern where he thought he could see a faintly glowing light. Shutting off his flashlight, Sanji stuffed his phone in his pocket and proceeded with caution. The small trickle of water to his side grew wider, leading toward some sort of underground pool Sanji could see from where he stood. It looked massive, the water smooth as glass as it reflected what Sanji could definitely now tell was a faint glow. Pressing his hand against the side of the tunnel wall, Sanji ducked around it, heart pounding in his chest as he feared the worst.

His breath caught in his throat at what he saw.

Sanji tried to look at everything at once, but he couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from where Zoro was curled up in the middle of the large cavern, his scales shimmering in the light of what appeared to be a large cluster of glowing crystals along the farthest edge of the cave. With each deep breath he took, Zoro’s entire body rippled with the movement and Sanji figured he was more than likely asleep, especially with the way the tuft of fur on the end of his tail covered his muzzle. A part of Sanji felt like he was intruding on something he shouldn’t have been seeing. Granted he had seen Zoro asleep a million times over, but this was like going into the dragon’s bedroom and Sanji hadn’t been invited.

Just as Sanji was turning to leave, Zoro moved, turning his head to the side slightly and opening his eye. The gold was shining brightly in the dimness of the cavern and Sanji felt himself freeze as Zoro found where he was standing. Zoro didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to; Sanji could practically feel the question hanging in the air. “I just — um, I mean —” Unsure of his words, Sanji uselessly jerked his arm back down the tunnel. “I’ll go.”

“I thought you went to bed.” Zoro’s voice seemed to vibrate through the air as he lifted his head, crossing his front feet together.

Sanji felt his eyes slide close at the sound of the dragon’s natural voice and swallowed dryly. “I had to clean up the plate we — I broke.” Shit, he sounded stupid. He talked to Zoro all the time, yet now he was practically stuttering, barely able to form a single sentence.

Zoro simply hummed in understanding about the plate. “Why’d you come down here, Sanji? I usually don’t allow anyone to come in here, you of all people should know that.”

“Yeah.” Sanji rubbed his hand on his pants before he stuffed it in his pocket, looking for his lighter to play with. It was a stupid nervous habit he’d never been able to kick. “I know.”

“Yet, here you are.” The tip of Zoro’s tail flicked in his annoyance. “So, either tell me what you want or get out.”

“Wow, that’s kind of rude.”

“You coming in here is beyond disrespectful.”

Sanji snorted back a laugh. “Yeah, that’s rich, coming from you.”

Zoro bared his teeth, growling ever so slightly. “Did you come down here to fight?”

“What? No.” Sanji jerked back in surprise at Zoro’s words, yet at the same time they were comforting in a way. “I came to talk, if you’re up for it. I know what my decision is.”

Zoro seemed to perk up at that. “Might as well come in here then.” Shifting slightly, Zoro waited for Sanji to walk across to him, carefully leaning against Zoro’s back leg so he could face the dragon and talk. Zoro’s entire body radiated heat and Sanji could feel it against his ass and thighs, even as the hardness of the scales made it a bit uncomfortable to lean against the dragon. The two were quiet as Sanji made himself as comfortable as he could, crossing his arms over his chest in the hope of stopping his heart from racing. “Well,” Zoro asked, his tone calm and quiet; well quiet for a dragon in his true form Sanji had learned. His mouth remained slightly parted, the long tentacle-like whiskers hanging limply to where the ends dragged on the ground. Sanji could feel Zoro’s breath on him with every exhale the dragon made.

“You know what it is.” Sanji was surprised at how quiet his own voice was. Deep down a part of him was still warring with himself about this, probably would be for a while, but as he thought back to when they kissed — not just upstairs, but back in his apartment, as well — Sanji knew this was going to be the end result anyway. Zoro was right, he’d never been one to ever fully think through anything, apparently this decision included.

“Yeah.” Zoro tipped his head to the side and picked up his back leg, jostling Sanji aside as he scratched behind his ear and horn. “But I still want to hear you say it.”

“You’re such an —” Sanji cut himself off. He didn’t think it would be wise to call Zoro an asshole in his own bedroom. Taking a deep breath, Sanji watched as Zoro lowered his leg and shook his head. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“You’re actually going to make me say it, aren’t you?” Sanji couldn't help the smile as he watched Zoro smirk and tip his head to the side. “Nope, I take it back. You are a complete asshole.”

Zoro yawned and shook his head. “Never claimed to not be. I won’t make you say it, though I should. I’m going to go to sleep. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Sanji shrugged. “I didn’t think I would make it this far without being attacked honestly.”

“I was well aware you were in here.” Zoro laid back down, shifting around until he could throw his tail back over the end of his snout. “I was just dozing, not really sleeping, not yet. I had a feeling you were going to come down here.”

“Did you?” Sanji raised an eyebrow from where he stood in the middle of Zoro’s body, realizing he was basically trapped unless he climbed over Zoro’s tail. The heat of Zoro’s body pooled around him, warming Sanji from all sides in a different manner than it had out in the woods before. Here, deep underground in Zoro’s den, the heat of the dragon’s body couldn’t escape and seemed to keep the entire cavern nice and warm. Sanji thought he’d probably be able to get used to that; the warmth of Zoro’s body.

Zoro flicked the end of his tail at Sanji, knocking him over backwards where he landed in the crook of Zoro’s ankle and body. “You can stay, if you want.”

Sanji struggled to sit up just enough to see Zoro’s closed eye, the deep scarring still a black mark against green scales. He was warm where he was, even if his current position wasn’t the most comfortable. Nodding to himself, Sanji took a deep breath and exhaled as he spoke. “Yeah, I think I would like to.”


	12. Book One: Pumice

Sanji sighed as he set his pen down. He’d been at the manor for a couple weeks now and considered himself pretty settled in given the rush that it was for his arrival. The days were nice and warm, allowing for Sanji to spend them out by the pool with Zoro. Rubbing his palms into his eyes, Sanji took a cigarette from his pack, leaning back in his chair as he lit it. That first deep drag was always the best and Sanji exhaled happily as he looked over to Zoro.

With Morgan curled up in Zoro’s lounger, the dragon was lounging in his pool with most of his body submerged in the murky water. Eye closed, Zoro seemed to be asleep, but Sanji could tell from the way the tip of his tail twitched, that he was awake and simply enjoying the sun on his scales. Things with Zoro has begun to settle into a routine, as well. After that first night and everyone finding out about them finally becoming a couple the next morning, Sanji had really given himself over to the relationship.

They hadn’t been trying to hide it, but they hadn’t been able to plan a way to tell everyone either, especially with Usopp making a comment about Sanji never going to bed the night before (the faun’s room was right next to Sanji’s) and Daz Bones making a comment about them both stumbling up from the basement before breakfast. Since that morning, most of Sanji and Zoro’s time had been spent on trying to plan things for their trip to look for wyverns. Sanji was constantly looking at maps, making supply lists, looking at maps again, and reading any of the lore books he could get his hands on in Robin’s library.

It hadn’t left time for much else, Sanji realized as he watched Zoro in his pool. The two of them slept next to each other almost every night, swapping between Sanji’s room and Zoro’s den. No one said a word to them, although Sanji had gotten a few curious looks from Perona and a couple of the others. Law made one lunch extremely uncomfortable for everyone when he pointedly looked at Sanji as he mentioned he’d gotten some new water based lubricants for his office. That set Chopper off about natural lubricants and the two proceeded to spend the rest of lunch debating on which types were better for what purposes. Sanji still wasn’t sure why he’d been so embarrassed about the conversation, he and Zoro weren’t even having sex.

Sanji frowned around his cigarette. He hadn’t brought it up or anything, still trying to wrap his head around the fact he was dating a fucking dragon, but he knew eventually he would want to do something other than sleep next to Zoro at night and kiss him. Zoro inhaled deeply and Sanji let his mind wander a little bit, thinking about what it would be like to be with Zoro in that way. What kind of a lover was a dragon anyway? What would the sex be like? Sanji figured it would probably be on the rougher side and he felt a zing run down his spine at the thought of it. He didn’t know how to bring the subject up to Zoro, but he knew he wanted to find out and experience what it would be like to sleep with a creature such as Zoro. He wanted to know what kind of stamina Zoro possessed and what it would feel like to lay next to him afterward, knowing he’d just been thoroughly fucked by the dragon.

“What  _ are _ you thinking about?” Zoro’s voice seemed to rumble through the air as he spoke.

“What?” Sanji blinked in an attempt to clear his thoughts, realizing he’d let his mind get the better of him and he was daydreaming. “Nothing.”

“I can smell you.” Zoro yawned, tongue curling against sharp teeth.

Sanji felt the blush creep over his cheeks. “Can’t keep anything from you, can I?”

“You don’t have to tell me, but,” Zoro paused and Sanji watched as he shifted in the pool. “I would like to know since I can smell the desire on you.”

Sanji took a deep breath, snubbing his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. “Okay, fine. I’ve been meaning to bring it up any—”

“Roronoa! Sanji!” Perona appeared in the open archway of the pool, slightly out of breath and upset. Her earbuds swung against her chest and her eyes were wide.

Zoro was instantly alert, sitting up in the pool and towering over them both. “What is it?”

“Something's coming. The senteries are screaming about it.”

Zoro turned his head, sniffing the air. “I can’t smell it.”

“It’s close to the ground,” Perona replied, rubbing at her temples. “They are so loud and angry. Whatever it is, the senteries I have posted can’t touch it, but it’s headed this way.”

“Is it a wyvern,” Sanji asked, jumping to his feet.

“I would smell a wyvern.” Zoro growled, reacting to Perona and Sanji’s growing alarm at the situation that seemed to be approaching. “Be on your guard.” Zoro stood from the pool, water cascading down his scales and splashing all over the place. “Who knows what we are —”

Zoro was cut off as Usopp screamed from somewhere in the garden and Sanji watched as Zoro jumped from where he was in the pool over the hedge wall into the garden. Sanji ran after Perona as she turned from the doorway, both of them running across the lawn to where Zoro was standing over Usopp, head lowered and growling at something near the wall.

Sanji and Perona moved to each side of the faun and checked to see if Usopp was okay. Sanji could feel the energy in his body already shifting as he prepared himself for a fight, the back of his calves itching as energy moved there and waited for him to make a move. Perona knelt on the ground and before she had even finished her chanting, three of her ghouls rose from the ground, swords and shields ready to attack on her command. Sanji recognized them from when they fought Hydra, but despite knowing what the ghouls were, he felt his stomach turn at their stench. How Perona worked with them, he would never know.

Zoro dug his claws into the ground, tearing up the lawn as he snaked his head down to get a better look at the creature that had managed to get into the backyard. Sanji could see a hole under the stone wall where the thing must have tunneled in. One of Perona’s ghouls screamed in rage and attacked, bursting passed Zoro’s snout to slice the intruder in half where it stood.

The thing screamed back, looking up at them and spotted Sanji where he stood between Zoro’s feet. Sanji thought for a moment he recognized the eyes before the intruder screamed his name and rushed by the ghoul to wrap itself around Sanji’s leg. Sanji stumbled back, thankful for Usopp when the faun caught him before he fell over. A new and different smell hit his nose and Sanji gagged in disgust as he looked down to the big brown eyes that were looking up at him. “Groggle?”

Groggle started babbling, his guttural language sounding like gibberish to Sanji. He refused to let go of Sanji’s leg and Sanji bit his lip as he fought back the urge to kick him away. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Groggle, he just didn’t necessarily want the grubby troll wrapped around his leg. “Slow down, Groggle, I can’t understand anything you’re saying.”

“Wait.” Usopp looked over Sanji’s shoulder, the tip of his horn scraping Sanji’s cheek. “You know this thing. It just popped outta the ground while I was working in the flower bed and started screaming at me.”

“Call off your ghouls, Perona.” Sanji looked over at her and she raised a hand, speaking to the three who had slowly been closing in around them, their hollow and dead eyes looking ready to fight. “I do know him. This is Groggle, he’s the troll that worked at the bed and breakfast with me. What are you doing here, Groggle?”

“He smells horrible.” Perona covered her nose with her shirt sleeve.

“Yeah, he needs a bath.” Usopp nodded and stepped away toward his shed. “I can get one of my tubs and the hose. I’ll be right back.”

As Usopp walked away, Zoro transformed into his human form, finally sensing that there really wasn’t any danger and crossed his arms over his chest. “How did he even get here?”

“Sanji,” Groggle half gurgled out, tapping the end of his nose.

“You could smell me? That’s a long way, Groggle, and we flew most of the way here.” Sanji raised an eyebrow. He knew Groggle had a good sense of smell, but he didn’t know it was that good.

“From the looks of him, height wise anyway, he looks to be a Sentry Troll. They are small trolls that have incredible senses of smell. Better than mine, if I want to be truly honest. Once they get a scent into their nose, they can track it over land, air, or sea.” Zoro snorted again, rubbing his hand across his nose. “Although, I don’t know how with the way he smells. Where did he come from?”

“He was the dishwasher at the bed and breakfast,” Sanji repeated, frowning at Zoro. “He was normally relatively clean, or else I wouldn’t let him into the kitchen. He does need a bath.” Sanji looked down to Groggle. “You hear me. Bathtime.”

Groggle grumbled something, but let go of Sanji’s leg and ran over to where Usopp was pulling a large metal tub out of the toolshed. He babbled at Usopp for a minute before the faun frowned and turned to turn on the hose. “I have no idea what he is saying, Sanji.”

Sanji shrugged. “Me either. Maybe Robin would know. We should go get her.”

“I will,” Zoro offered. “I can’t stand the smell anymore. Between him and the ghouls, I can't smell anything.” Without even waiting, Zoro turned and walked off into the manor.

Perona watched him go before speaking to her ghouls. The three of them wailed at her in anguish before disappearing back into the earth where they came from. Sanji walked over to Groggle, who was watching the water swirl around in the bottom of the tub. “Why are you here, Groggle,” Sanji asked as he placed his hand against the side of the metal tub, heating it with a simple touch so the water inside would get warm. “Did something happen?”

Groggle turned to Sanji as Usopp came back with a bar of soap in his hand. The faun tossed it in the tub and crossed his arms. “I have heard of Sentry Trolls before. They are amazing trackers when they put their minds to it. They are hard to make friends with, but if you manage to succeed, you have a companion for life. You must have really impressed this guy for him to track you across the country.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Sanji shrugged, sitting down in the grass. Groggle was still looking at Sanji, and Sanji could feel the hairs at the back of his neck prick in alarm. There shouldn’t have been any reason for Groggle to be here. Groggle had been working with Agatha and Nero in the kitchen for years. It didn’t make sense for him to suddenly abandon them to chase Sanji to the manor. “You ready for your bath?”

Groggle turned and clambered over the edge of the tub, not even bothering to take off his clothes. “Oh my gods,” Perona chuckled behind Sanji. “Clothes and all.”

“Do we even have something we could use as a change of clothes for him here?” Sanji watched Groggle in the tub as the troll began pulling off wet and dirty clothing, dropping it into a pile by the side of the metal tub. “I would hate for him to get clean just to have to put dirty clothes back on again. Maybe tomorrow we can take him to the market for some clothes.”

Perona leaned down and placed her hand on Sanji’s shoulder. “I’ll go see if I can find something. I may still have some of my old clothes laying around. They’d still be too big, but I’m closer to his size than any of you guys.”

Sanji looked up at Perona and smiled. “Thanks.” Perona nodded and walked away. “I’ll stay here with him if you want to go back to gardening, Usopp.” Turning to lie down in the grass, Sanji crossed his ankles and rested his head on one arm.

“Naw, this is exciting. Besides, I was almost done anyway. I can finish later. I wanna know what this guy has to say. You got your own fanclub it seems, Sanji.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Sanji looked up as Usopp’s shadow fell over him, scowling up at him as Usopp chuckled. Next to them, Groggle muttered Sanji’s name again and Sanji moved his free hand to press against the tub, warming the metal and the water a little more. He didn’t quite know how he knew what it was that the troll wanted, but right now Sanji didn’t really want to think about it. He was worried about what it could mean with Groggle being here.

It certainly couldn’t be as simple as he just decided to follow Sanji here. He felt like something had happened. A part of Sanji just  _ knew _ something was wrong, that was why Groggle was here. “Robin will be here in a minute. Brook and Nami had already informed her of this troll’s arrival. What did you say his name was?”

Sanji tipped his head back to look up at Zoro just to see the dragon peering down at him, his single eye glowing slightly as the gold swirled about. He was still alert, even though there didn’t seem to be a threat of danger anymore. “Groggle,” Sanji breathed out, feeling his heart skip a beat as he met the dragon’s gaze. “His name’s Groggle. He’s harmless, Roronoa, really. I promise.”

Sanji could sense Zoro relax at his words and Sanji felt a little smug flare of pride knowing he was able to calm the dragon so easily. With a nod, Zoro looked away, his earrings flashing in the sun as he looked around the backyard.

Sanji heard the screen door slam and sat up as Robin and Perona came walking back across the lawn toward them. Sanji scooted back, leaning back against Zoro’s legs and sighing heavily. He wasn’t sure he was ready to hear why it was that Groggle was here.


End file.
